Delhi High Court
Tara Chand vs The Secretary, Ministry Of Human ... on 9 January, 2001
Author: . M Sharma
Bench: . M Sharma
ORDER
Dr. Mukundakam Sharma, J.
1. In the present writ petition the petitioner has sought for a direction to be issued to the respondents to regularise the service of the petitioner as Radio Mechanic Instructor in the Nehru Yuva Kendra, Mathura and also for a further direction to pay all his arrear salary w.e.f January, 1996 till date and also to give him promotion and increments, which are due and payable to him.
2. The petitioner has alleged in the writ petition that he was appointed as Radio Mechanic Instructor with the Nehru Yuva Kendra, Mathura under letter dt. 20.5.75 and that since then the petitioner is working in the aforesaid capacity till date without any break whatsoever. It is alleged that he has not been paid his salary since January, 1996. It is also stated that since the petitioner has worked for such a long time, his service should be regularised or confirmed in the said Kendra at Mathura. Hence the present petition is filed seeking for the aforesaid reliefs.
3. The respondents have entered appearance and the respondent No. 2 has contested the writ petition by filing a counter affidavit. The case of the respondents, as pleaded in the said counter affidavit, is that the petitioner was engaged as Radio Mechanic Instructor, on 20.6.75 and he was paid honorarium of Rs. 100/- per class/training. It is stated that the aforesaid engagement was purely temporary and it is only when the service of the petitioner was required in Vocational Training Centre organized by the respondent No. 2, the petitioner was called and that after completion of every training camp, the petitioner was paid for the days he worked with the respondent No. 2 as per the fixed honorarium, which was increased from time to time. It is also stated that the aforesaid engagement was not a whole time engagement and he was paid honorarium for the period when work was being taken from the petitioner. It is also stated in the said counter affidavit that after 30.12.95 no training camp has been organized by the respondent No. 2 till date and, therefore, no payment is due and payable to the petitioner. It is stated that for such type of engagement, no claim could be made either for regularisation or for payment of arrear salary, as claimed in this writ petition.
4. I have also heard the learned counsel appearing for the parties.
5. Learned counsel appearing for the petitioner submitted that on the basis of the record, it would be apparent that the petitioner was appointed as a Radio Mechanic Instructor and since he has been serving as Radio Mechanic Instructor with the respondent No. 2 for such a long period and therefore, it is a case where an order is required to be passed for regularisation of his service and for payment of his arrear salary.
6. Learned counsel appearing for respondent No. 2, on the other hand, drew my attention to the various annexures annexed to the writ petition and also to the averments made in the counter affidavit filed by the said respondent, in support of his contention that the said engagement of the petitioner was not a full time engagement and was only from time to time as and when his services were required for the Vocational Training Camp when the same was organized and since his service has not been taken after 30.12.95 and no training camp has been organized, there was neither any necessity of making any payment to him nor a case for regularisation is made out.
7. The order appointing the petitioner as Radio Mechanic Instructor is placed on record, which is dated 20.5.75. By the aforesaid order the petitioner was appointed as Radio Mechanic Instructor on monthly remuneration of Rs. 100/-. It is stated in the said letter that the appointment is temporary and the same could be cancelled at any time without prior information.
8. The petitioner issued a legal notice to the respondents under Section 80 CPC, on 8.9.79 claiming his remuneration up to 1.9.79. In reply to the aforesaid legal notice, a letter was sent by the Ministry of Education and Culture (Department of Education) on 2.11.79 to the lawyer of the petitioner informing him that the engagement of the petitioner as Instructor on part-time basis could not be treated as appointment to a post in the Nehru Yuvak Kendra, for no such post of Radio-Training, Instructor has been sanctioned for Nehru Yuvak Kendra, Mathura. It was also stated in the said reply that the petitioner has been paid his remuneration up to 14.3.79 and that the balance remuneration for the period 05.3.79 to 26.4.79 would be paid to him on submission of bill. The petitioner has also placed on record a copy of letter dt. 10.6.85 whereby the Youth Coordinator, Nehru Yuvak Kendra, Mathura submitted a proposal for starting a programme of T.V. Mechanic Training and for sanction of Rs. 10,000/- for the aforesaid programme.
9. Reference could also be made to another letter annexed as Annexure 13 to the writ petition, which was written by the Youth Coordinator, Nehru Yuvak Kendra Sangthan, New Delhi. It transpires from the said letter that the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports had sanctioned such a scheme for the year 1985. Various correspondence placed on record would clearly indicate that there was no sanctioned post for the Radio mechanic Instructor. However, from time to time, a special programme of T.V. Mechanic training is undertaken by the said Nehru Yuvak Kendra, Mathura, for which a fixed amount is sanctioned by the Government as against a specific budget. The aforesaid position is made clear from perusal of a copy of the proposal submitted from the said Kendra at Mathura for starting a T.V. Mechanic training programme at the said Kendra, for which sanction of Rs.6,000/- was sought for, for payment of honorarium to the Radio-T.V. Mechanic Instructor for a combined programme of three hours per day for 30 trainees at the rate of Rs. 500/-, which comes to Rs. 6000/-. The aforesaid proposal sent by the Kendra at Mathura was sanctioned by the concerned Ministry, out of which payment was to be made to the Radio-T.V. Mechanic instructor. This would make it crystal clear that the petitioner was not working as against a particular sanctioned post, but his services were utilised and an honorarium was being paid to him out of the funds sanctioned for undertaking the training programme for which a proposal was submitted and sanctioned.
10. It is specifically stated in the counter affidavit the no training programme has been undertaken by the respondent No. 2 at Mathura Kendra since January, 1996. No convincing documentary evidence has been placed on record, on behalf of the petitioner, to show that the aforesaid position is incorrect.
11. Since the petitioner had worked as against a particular scheme in phases and not continuously, no direction could be issued to the respondents for regularising the services of the petitioner nor any direction could be issued to the respondents for payment of any arrear salary to the petitioner since the month of January, 1996 till date.
12. Since the scheme under the petitioner worked is temporary and for stipulated period and the fund sanctioned therefore is a specific amount, it cannot be said that the petitioner is entitled to be regularised as against such post so as to make him entitle to draw salary, although no such post exists. It find no merit in this petition and the same is dismissed but without any costs.
