SC slams officials for delaying regularisation of daily-wagers
The Supreme Court has criticised Jammu and Kashmir officials for failing to comply with a High Court order regarding the regularisation of daily-wagers, terming the inaction a “glaring and textbook example of obstination.”
In its March 7 order, a Bench of Justices Surya Kant and N. Kotiswar Singh expressed disappointment, stating, “We are constrained to observe that the present case is a glaring and textbook example of obstination exhibited by the state officials/authorities, who consider themselves to be above and beyond the reach of law.”
The case concerns daily-wagers who worked between 14 to 19 years in the Rural Development Department. Despite a 2007 High Court order to regularise their services, the Jammu and Kashmir authorities continued passing “cryptic orders” that effectively harassed the workers. The Supreme Court expressed concern that the officials took over 16 years to comply with the May 3, 2007 order, calling the delay “shocking and prima facie contemptuous,” and declined to interfere with the Rs 25,000 cost imposed by the High Court’s division bench.
The SC further noted, “However, what concerns us is not the delay of decades alone, but also the incontrovertible fact that the poor respondents, being daily-wage workers, have been repeatedly harassed by the petitioners by passing cryptic orders, thereby overlooking the true import and spirit of the order dated May 3, 2007 passed by a single judge.”
The High Court had previously denied relief to the Union Territory regarding a contempt plea filed by the daily-wagers, with the court ruling on December 4, 2024, that the authorities had not complied with the 2007 order. The single judge had also ordered the arrest of the officials concerned, which the Supreme Court supported, stating, “That’s good. The single judge has rightly done so.”
While the SC recommended imposing exemplary costs and strong disciplinary action against the delinquent officers, it refrained from taking further action, given that contempt proceedings are still ongoing.
In 2006, a group of daily-wagers from the Rural Development Department moved the High Court, seeking the regularisation of their jobs after working for 14 to 19 years without being regularised under SRO 64 of 1994, despite multiple requests.
