The Indian Express ·
‘Inaction by authorities can’t deprive worker of accrued rights’: Court orders regularisation
The Punjab and Haryana High Court said the state, as a model employer, is bound to act fairly and with sensitivity toward its employees, and directed the Haryana Agricultural Marketing Board to regularise a man's services from 2003.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed the Haryana State Agricultural Marketing Board to regularise a daily-wage employee’s services from October 1, 2003, holding that administrative inaction cannot be converted into a tool to deprive a workman of his accrued rights.
The court also granted related benefits and 12 per cent interest from the date of accrual. The employee was seeking regularisation of his services as a peon under the Haryana Government’s 2003 regularisation policy.
Dealing with the employee’s plea, Justice Harkesh Manuja said, “Administrative inaction of this kind cannot be converted into a tool to deprive a workman of his accrued rights, for that would allow the State to take advantage of its own wrong, an outcome wholly impermissible in constitutional jurisprudence.”
