CUTTACK: In a sharp rebuke to the Odisha government, the Orissa High Court has ordered retrospective regularization of 104 employees from 1994, holding that the State’s actions in denying them permanent status for over three decades were arbitrary, unjust, and violated natural justice.The case dates back to 1992–93, when 105 individuals were engaged as casual laborers following a selection process. They were subsequently regularised through five separate orders issued in January and February 1994. However, within weeks, the Director placed these regularization orders in obedience on April 7, 1994, triggering prolonged litigation.A division bench of Justices Krishna Shripad Dixit and Chittaranjan Dash quashed both the 1994 “abeyance order” issued by the Director of Printing, Stationery & Publication and a later State Administrative Tribunal order, terming them legally unsustainable.“All actions of the government authorities should be animated with human values like dignity & compassion, to say the least. Neither the stand of Government nor the impugned order of Tribunal reflects this. Therefore, they need to be quashed with costs, so that the officials will wake up from the slumber of their colonial mind-set and learn to treat the citizens with dignity, and not as slaves,” the Bench observed in the April 20 judgment, a web copy of which was released on Thursday.The Bench delivered the judgment while considering two separate petitions – one by 94 employees filed in 1994 and another by eight employees in 2012..Taking note of the passage of time, the Bench said 57 employees have since retired and 21 have died, while 26 are still in service and directed the State to extend full service and monetary benefits to all affected individuals from 1994 onwards, including payment of dues to retirees and families of deceased employees within three months.The Bench also imposed a fine of ?5,000 per petitioner, which would be waived if the government complied with the directions within the stipulated period. Delay in implementation will attract interest at the rate of 1% for the first one month, and 2% for the following months, recoverable from erring officials, the bench warned..The HC noted that the situation took a crucial turn when the Director himself kept the obedience order in obedience on April 7, 1994, effectively restoring the employees’ regular status. Despite this, the Tribunal failed to treat the matter as infructuous and kept the obedience order in obedience in an interim order dated 08.04.1994. The petitions were transferred to the high court following abolition.Calling this a “clear error apparent on the face of the record,” the bench held that the Tribunal should have either closed the case at that stage or set aside the April 7 order outright, especially since it violated principles of natural justice.Rejecting the State’s claim that the appointments were irregular or against non-existent posts, the court observed that the workers had been selected, found eligible, and had served for years without complaint. It also pointed out that government records themselves showed a “perennial requirement” for their services.
