After 34 years of service, a watchman of a teacher training institute in Cuddalore district with a basic pay of just Rs. 20 will now get time-scale pay, thanks to a Madras High Court order.
The court has directed the School Education Department to regularise, within eight weeks, his services from the date of appointment (November 1, 1980), with all monetary benefits.
Justice D. Hariparanthaman passed the order on K. Mahimaidoss’s petition.
The petitioner said he was being paid Rs.8,989 a month. His basic pay stood at Rs.20, and allowances accounted for the rest. He was to retire shortly. The Sacred Heart Teachers Training Institute, a partially aided institution where he was working, also sent proposals for regularising his services. The Director of Teachers Education, Research and Training also recommended his case. By a March 7, 2007 order, the School Education Secretary rejected the proposal for regularising the services of contingent employees of private aided teacher training institutes.
Counsel said the petitioner had been working for 34 years without his services having been regularised against the sanctioned/approved post. Watchmen in government teacher training institutes were paid time-scale pay. This was arbitrary.
Mr. Justice Hariparanthaman said the impugned order did not spell out any reason for rejecting the plea. Hence, it was highly arbitrary. The petitioner could not be discriminated against, especially when the Director of Teachers Education, Research and Training, recommended that his services be regularised. A Supreme Court judgment — extracting work from daily-wage workers for several years without regularisation amounted to unfair labour practice — was applicable to the present case. The petitioner was not a part-time employee; for the more than 30 years past, he had been working as a full-time employee.
