The Supreme Court has emphasized the importance of equitable treatment in the regularisation of daily wage employees, stating that all eligible individuals must receive the benefits of any policy decisions made by the competent authorities. This was highlighted in a recent ruling concerning a daily wage worker at Government Kalaniketan Polytechnic College, Jabalpur.
A bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan upheld the Madhya Pradesh High Court’s decision, which directed the regularisation of Shyam Kumar Yadav’s employment. Despite being engaged as a daily-rated employee since 1993, Yadav faced termination in 1995. However, he was reinstated following a Screening Committee’s recommendation, and records indicate he has been continuously employed since 2006.
The Supreme Court underscored that while daily wage workers do not have an inherent legal right to regularisation, any policy designed to regularize employees must be applied uniformly. The Court criticized selective implementation, stressing that authorities cannot be allowed to discriminate among eligible employees.
The core dispute revolved around whether Yadav, given his long service and the government’s existing policies, should be absorbed as a regular employee. The High Court ruled in his favor, a decision subsequently upheld by the Division Bench in 2018. The state government’s appeal to the Supreme Court was dismissed, with the Court noting that the state’s affidavits were vague and misleading.
Ultimately, the Supreme Court ordered the state to regularize Yadav’s services, granting him full employment benefits, including arrears and seniority, to be implemented within three months.
