Srinagar: The High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh has dismissed two combined petitions filed by 802 daily-rated workers from Central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district who had sought regularization of their services under SRO 520 of 2017. The court observed that the petitioners failed to prove they were engaged before the government imposed a ban on fresh appointments in 2015.
The verdict, delivered by Justice Javed Iqbal Wani in WP(C) No. 1415/2023 and WP(C) No. 411/2024 titled Nazir Ahmad Bhat and others vs Union Territory of J&K and others, stated that no legal or fundamental rights of the petitioners had been violated. The workers had sought inclusion of their names in official records for regularization, citing years of service as daily wagers in the Power Development Department’s Sub-Transmission Division (STD) Ganderbal.
Justice Wani noted that the findings of the inquiry committee— which had concluded that the petitioners were engaged after the recruitment ban—were never challenged by them. “The respondents cannot be faulted or said to have infringed any rights of the petitioners,” the court observed while dismissing the petitions.
Advocate Tasaduq Hussain Reshi represented the private respondents who had already been regularized, while Government Advocate Faheem Shah appeared for the administration.
Upholding the government’s stance, the court reiterated that only those casual, need-based, and daily-rated workers engaged prior to the 2015 ban are eligible for consideration under SRO 520. It found that the petitioners were not similarly placed with the 472 workers whose names had been verified and approved for regularization.
The administration, citing an inquiry report led by the Superintending Engineer, O&M Circle Ganderbal, stated that records showed manipulation post-ban and that 128 individuals, including the petitioners, did not appear on the official muster rolls.
