One set of daily wagers cannot be replaced by another: HC

S Shyam Prasad | NT

Bengaluru: The High Court of Karnataka dismissed an appeal by the Hindu Religious Institution and Charitable Endowment Department challenging the order to continue the services of daily wage basis scavengers.

“It is now well established that one set of daily wagers cannot be removed for bringing another like set,” the division bench of Chief Justice Prasanna B Varale and Justice Krishna S Dixit said in their judgement upholding the order of a single-judge bench.

The Department had approached the division bench challenging the single-judge order of December 2022 in which said, “"directed to continue the Petitioners on daily wage basis as Scavengers, till regular recruitment is made and also provide the Petitioners opportunity to participate in the regular recruitment process."

The Department had sought to dismiss three daily wage scavengers from service.

The advocate for the Department argued that “whether a daily wager should be continued in service or not, is a matter left to the discretion of the Executive; persons working in Government or Public Employments on daily wage basis do not have a justiciable right to continue in such employment.”

However, the division bench accepted the reasoning of the single judge bench and said, “The very fact that all the private Respondents have put in a continuous service of more than a decade, gives them a justiciable right to continue on daily wage basis till after regular recruitment is done.”

The HC also noticed that regular recruitment has not been done and there was no need to dismiss their services immediately.

“It is not that the regular recruitment has been done and therefore, these daily wagers have to yield place to the regular recruits. By very nature, the process of regular recruitment is time-consuming and therefore, till that is accomplished, the services of these people cannot be dispensed with,” the HC said.

Dismissing the appeal by the Department, the HC said, “It hardly needs to be stated that these poor persons have been working since a long period, with Spotless Service Record. The Appellants want to make regular appointments, is true. However till that is done, these poor persons doing a very valuable work, namely scavenging the City roads, cannot be discontinued.”

The HC also said that the three daily wagers; Revathi, Mahalakshmi and Gangadhar, should also be considered for regular recruitment as per the direction of the single judge.

Disposing the petition, the HC said, “He (single judge) is also right in directing the Appellants to permit all these persons to participate in the regular recruitment process. It hardly needs to be stated some leniency needs to be justifiably shown to them even in the regular recruitment process, regard being had to their long & spotless service.”