HALLI GOWDA & ORS.versusMANAGING DIRECTOR, K.S.R.T.C. & ANR.

             •



                           HALLI GOWDA & ORS.
A
                                         v.
                 MANAGING DIRECTOR, K:S.R.T.C. & ANR.

                                 MARCH 8, 1989

B            [R.S. PATHAK, CJ, RANGANATH MISRA AND
                     M.N. VENKATACHALIAH, JJ.]

           Statutory Organisations-One set of daily wage employees cannot         )
     be discriminated as against another in the matter of regularisation of       , ~~
     service and grant of time scale pay.
c          The petitioners who had served the respondent-Corporation for
     long periods on daily wage basis prayed for regnlarisation of services
     and grant of time scale pay from their dates of initial appointment on
     the gronnd that others similarly placed had been granted these benefits.

D          The Conrt, after noticing that there were discrepancies in the
     factual position adopted by the parties,

            DIRECTED: The matter to be examined is with reference to
     factual position as to when the 19 persons in Annexure 'A' were initially
     employed and when they have been regularised as against the initial
E    employment of each of the petitioners. This can be done only by refer-
     ence to appropriate records. We direct that a senior officer of the
     Corporation shall be named by respondent No. l to look into these
     allegations and at the time the question is examined by such officer the
     petitioners shall be given appropriate opportunity of being heard, if
     asked for throngh connsel also, and all relevant documents should be
F    looked into to ascertain whether the claim of the petitioners that
     they have been discriminated against in the facts indicated in their writ
     petition particularly with reference to Annexure 'A' is correct; and
     in case it is found that the petitioners have not been given the benefit
     which has given to the 19 daily rated Conductors specified in Annexure
     'A' i petitioners may be conferred the same benefit as has been exten-
G    ded to those 19 persons unless the respondent is able to assign satis-
     factory and cogent reasons and states as to why petitioners are not
     entitled to the same benefit. This would be so on the footing that
     regularisation does not require a specified period of service to have been
     pot in. (939£-H]

:H         ORIGINAL JURISDICTION: Writ Petition No. 1325 of 1987.
                                        936
                         H. GOWDA v. K.S.R.T.C.                       937

       (Under Article 32 of the Constitution of India)                        A
     P. Rangaswamy, K.K. Gupta and Capt. Virefldera Kumar fot
the Petitioners.

       K.R. Nagaraja and R.S. Hegde, for the Respondents,

       The following Order of the Court was delivered:

                                  ORDER

         Thirty-two petitioners in this application under Art. 32 of the
· Constitution are Bus Conductors in the employment of the Karnataka          C
  State Road Transport Corporation, respondent No. 1. They have
  alleged that the respondent·Corporation is a statutory organisation
  and is. 'State' within the meaning of Art. 12. The normal practice
  prevalent in the Corporation is to initially appoint Conductors on daily
  wage basis and regularise them in due course. According to them, 19
  dllily wage Conductors as mentioned in Annexure 'A' to the petition         D
  were regularised and brought on the time-scale of pay with effect from
  the original date of their employment as daily wage Conductors, while
  though the petitioners have served for quite a long period they have
  not yet been regularised. They have alleged discrimhtation and
  claimed relief on the basis of Art. 14. They have asked for a direction
  to the Transport Corporation to bring them on the time-scale by             E
  regularisation rrom the date each of them came to be employed by the
  Corporation, as stated in Annexure 'B'.

        The Corporation in its return to the rule has accepted the posi-
 tion that it "is a statutory body created under s. 3 of the Road Transport
 Corporation Act of 1950. There is no challenge to the allegation of the      F
 petitioners that initial appointment is on daily wage basis and as and
 when regular vacancies arise the daily rated employees are brought on
 time-scale of pay and services are regularised. Paragraph 9 of the
 counter-affidavit specifically challenged the assertion of the peti-
 tioners that 19 similarly placed employees were confirmed on the date
 of initial employment on daiiy rated basis. The plea in paragraph 9 is       G
 as follows:

             "The information furnished in Annexure-A showing that
             19 persons who were working in different divisions have
             been appointed on time-scale on the same date is abso-
             lutely wrong and misleading. The petitioners have sworn          H
        938                SUPREME COURT REPORTS             (1989] l S.C.R.
A
                false affidavit without making any effort to verify the
                factual position. The date of confirmation in majority of
                the cases has been shown in Annexure-A as the date of
                their appointment just to prejudice this Court."

B.          Learned counsel for the petitioners placed reliance on the deci-
    1 sion of this Court in Daily Rated Casual Labour v. Union of India &
    : Ors., [1988] 1 SCC 122 anci an order made on 14th ofJuly, 1988 in Writ
    •Petition No. 8307-11/83 which is still awaiting final disposal. The facts
    : of the reported decision were very different. It would be sufficient to
    • refer to paragraph 2 of the judgment:
c               "The principal complaint of the petitioners is that even
                though many of them have been working for the last ten
                years as casual labourers, the wages paid to them are very
                low and far less than the salary and allowances paid to the
                regular employees of the Posts and Telegraphs Department
                belonging to each of the categories referred to above and
                secondly no scheme has been prepared by the Union of
                India to absorb them regularly in its service and conse-
                quently they have been denied the benefits, such as incre-
                ments, pension, leave facilities etc. etc. which are enjoyed
                by those who have been recruited regularly. They allege
E,              that they are being exploited by the Union of India."

          Petitioners have not made these allegations and their sole grie-
    vance is of discrimination on the basis that while they have not been
    regularised though they have been serving for a good number of
  I years-in some cases about 14 years-the 19 persons named in Anne-
F ]xure 'A' have been regularised from the date of initial employment. It
    is, therefore, not necessary to refer to the decision. The order in the
  : pending writ application is also on a different set of facts and, there-
    fore, need not be further referred to.

         At the hearing of the writ application, petitioners relied upon a
G draft seniority list published by the Corporation in support of their
 Istand while the Corporation on the basis of a document appended to
 ; the counter-affidavit maintained that the particulars were wrong and
 ' since the document was only at the draft stage and mistakes appearing         ~
 · therein were yet to be corrected, no reliance can be placed on the
   particulars appearing therein and the original record should be refer-
H red to.
                              H. GOWDA v. K.S.R.T.C.                       939

           In view of the pointed question raised by the petitioners and the      A
      denial in the return, we made an order on 28.2.1989 to the following
     ·effect:

                  "The dispute has arisen before us regarding the identity of
                  all the persons. The Registrar General is directed to assign
                  an Officer to examine the photostat copy of the Original        B
.y                Record in possession of learned counsel for the respon-
                  dents for the purpose of .determining whether there is any
                  discrepancy between that record and the printed list which
                  has been furnished before us in relation to the 34 petition-
                  ers as well as the 19 employees set out in Annexure 'A'
                  annexed to the Writ Petition."
                                                                                  c
      The report dated 2nd of March, 1989 on the basis of the printed docu-
      ment and the photostat copies of records made available at the time of
      examination to the Officer shows that there are discrepancies. The
      original record, however, is not available in the Court.
                                                                                  D
            It is not disputed before us by counsel for the respondents that in
      case benefit of regularisation has been conferred on daily rated emp-
      loyees from the date of initial employment and such benefit has not
      been extended to the petitioners, the grievance grounded upon Art. 14
      of the Constitution would be valid. The matter to be examined, there-
      fore, is with reference to factual position as to when the 19 persons in    E
      Annexure 'A' were initially employed and when they have been tegu"
      larised as against the initial employment of each of the petitioners.
      This can be done only by reference to appropriate records. We direct
      that a senior officer of the Corporation shall be named by respondent
      No .. 1 to look into these allegations and at tl\e time the question is
      examined by such officer the petitioners shall be given appropriate         F
      opportunity of being heard, if asked for through counsel also, and all
      relevant documents should be looked into to ascertain whether the
     claim oftile petitioners that they have been discriminated against in
      the facts indicated in their writ petition particularly with reference to
      Annexure 'A' is correct; and in case it is found that the petitioners
      have not been given the benefit which has been given to the 19 daily        G
      rated Conductors specified in Annexure 'A', petitioners may be con-
      ferred the same benefit as has been extended to those 19 persons
      unless the respondent is able to assign satisfactory and cogent reasons
      and states as to why petitioners are not entitled to the same benefit.
      This would be so on the footing that regularisation does not require a
      specified period of service to have been put iIL the respondent-            H
    940                    SUPREME COURT REPORTS         [1989) 1 S.C.R.

A   Corporation shall designate the authority within two weeks and the      -"'
    enquiry by him in the manner directed above shall be completed within
    three months. On the basis of the report furnished by such authority
    the respondent is directed to take a final decision within two months
    thereafter.
B
          There shall be no direction as to costs.

    H.L.C.