High Court Orders Haryana to Regularize Service and Clear Salary Arrears

In a significant verdict reaffirming the constitutional rights of daily-wage laborers against arbitrary administrative denial, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has dismissed the Haryana government’s second appeal, upholding the regularization and service entitlements of Chhotu Ram Swami, a Class-IV daily-wage worker (beldar/peon) in the state Forest Department. Ending a grueling 12-year legal battle, single-judge bench of Justice Harkesh Manuja ruled that once the state establishes a policy framework to regularize daily-wage employees upon completing specified tenures, it cannot arbitrarily deny identical benefits to similarly situated workers. The bench directed the Haryana Forest Department to release all pending salary arrears, allowances, and consequential benefits to Swami within three months, warning that delayed compliance would incur enhanced penal interest.Timeline of the 12-Year Battle: From Unlawful Termination to Court-Ordered ReinstatementThe genesis of the protracted legal contest dates back four decades into the petitioner's initial daily-wage engagement:Initial Engagement and Abrupt Dismissal: Chhotu Ram Swami was originally appointed as a daily-wage peon in the Haryana Forest Department back in 1984, serving continuously until his services were abruptly terminated on August 1, 1999, without statutory retrenchment compensation or due process.Labour Court Intervention: Swami contested the arbitrary termination before the Labour Court in Rohtak; on June 10, 2011, the tribunal delivered a decisive award declaring the dismissal completely illegal, ordering his immediate reinstatement with continuous service benefits and 50 percent back wages calculated from the demand notice date of February 19, 2002.Delayed Physical Reinstatement: Despite the judicial pronouncement in 2011, the Forest Department reinstated him on duty nearly a year later, on April 24, 2012, prompting him to initiate fresh proceedings to claim his rightful permanent status under prevailing state regularization circulars.Clash Over Regularization Policy: Discrimination Against Senior Daily-Wagers ExposedSwami moved the court seeking justice after discovering that several daily-wage personnel junior to him had already been regularized while his claim was systematically blocked:The 1996 Regularization Norms: Under the Haryana government's 1996 policy, any daily-wage employee who completed three or more years of uninterrupted service and remained on rolls on the cut-off date of January 31, 1996, qualified for absorption into permanent cadres.State Defense Rejected: The Haryana government defended its refusal by asserting that the position was not an initially sanctioned permanent vacancy and argued that other junior daily-wagers had only been absorbed in compliance with specific judicial directions.High Court Bench Observations: Justice Harkesh Manuja rejected the state's contention, observing that Swami was actively employed since 1984 and comfortably met the requisite service threshold on the cut-off date. The court emphasized that the period during which an employee was kept out of work due to an illegal termination cannot be cited as a disqualifying break in continuous service.Strict Three-Month Deadline: Six to Nine Percent Penal Interest on Outstanding ArrearsTo ensure that the administrative machinery complies without dragging the matter through further delays, the High Court outlined strict execution terms:Three-Month Window for Compliance: The Forest Department must compute and disburse all outstanding salary arrears, dearness allowances, and accrued pensionary/service increments within three months from the receipt of the certified copy of the order.Standard and Enhanced Penal Interest: The bench mandated that the accrued arrears carry an annual interest rate of 6 percent; however, if the department fails to release the financial package within the prescribed 90-day timeline, an elevated penal interest rate of 9 percent per annum will be levied on the state treasury until the actual date of realization.Precedent for Daily-Wage Workers: The ruling reinforces a crucial judicial precedent across Punjab and Haryana, establishing that departments cannot withhold statutory regularizations through arbitrary delays, flawed record-keeping, or non-production of contemporaneous employment registers.