Orissa High Court
Somanath Barik vs State Of Odisha & Others on 24 July, 2023
IN THE HIGH COURT OF ORISSA AT CUTTACK
W.P.(C) No.14581 of 2023
Somanath Barik .... Petitioner
Dr. J.K. Lenka, Advocate
-versus-
State of Odisha & others .... Opposite Parties
Mr. N.K. Praharaj, A.G.A.
CORAM:
JUSTICE A.K. MOHAPATRA
ORDER
Order No. 24.07.2023
02. 1. This matter is taken up through Hybrid Arrangement (Virtual
/Physical Mode).
2. Heard Dr. J.K. Lenka, learned counsel appearing for the
petitioner as well as Mr. N.K. Praharaj, learned Addl. Government
Advocate for the State-Opposite Parties. Perused the writ petition as
well as the documents annexed thereto.
3. The present writ application has been filed by the Petitioner with
the following prayer:-
"The Petitioner, therefore, most humbly prayed that
this Hon'ble Court would be graciously be pleased to
issue Rule Nisi calling upon the Opp. Parties to show
cause as to why the Opp. Parties should not be directed
to release the salary of the Petitioner from the date i.e.
1st August, 2022 to till date to secure ends of justice;
And pass any other order/orders, as would be
deemed just and proper in the interest of justice."
4. It is submitted by learned counsel for the Petitioner that the
Petitioner was initially engaged as Data Entry vide order dated
// 2 //
01.05.2006 on contractual basis. Thereafter, he is continuing in service
uninterruptedly. Being aggrieved by the conduct of the Opposite Parties
in regularizing some of the similarly situated persons and not
regularizing the service of the Petitioner, the Petitioner earlier
approached the Tribunal by filing O.A. No.1979 of 2017. Since, the
Tribunal was abolished the aforesaid O.A. was transferred to this Court
was renumbered as WPC(OA) No. 1979 of 2017. The said writ
application was disposed of by judgment dated 21.10.2022 of a
Coordinate Bench of this Court. Referring to the judgment, learned
counsel for the Petitioner submitted that the Coordinate Bench has
come to a conclusion that the rejection of claim of the Petitioner vide
the impugned order on the ground that the Petitioner was engaged
through outsourcing is not based on record. Further, it was also held
that the Petitioner was engaged as against 30 sanctioned posts along
with similarly situated other employees who have been regularized in
the meantime. Accordingly, the impugned order dated 20.06.2016 was
quashed by the learned Coordinate Bench. Further, the Opposite Party
No.1 was directed to absorb the Petitioner in the regular establishment
on completion of six years of his engagement on contractual basis or at
least from the date similarly situated other contractual employees were
so regularized. Further, the Coordinate Bench had also directed to
sanction and release the financial benefit as is due and admissible to the
Petitioner and the entire exercise was directed to be concluded within
three months from the date of communication of the order dated
21.10.2022.
5. Since, the order passed by the Court was not implemented the
Petitioner was compelled to approach by filing a contempt application
bearing CONTC No.3631 of 2023. The said contempt application was
disposed of vide order dated 28.06.2023 by granting further six weeks
// 3 //
time to implement the order dated 21.10.2022.
6. At this juncture, learned counsel for the Petitioner alleged that
after disposal of the writ application and after final the passing of the
order contempt application the Opposite Parties have taken away the
computer system from the Petitioner and they are not assigning any
work to the Petitioner. He also alleged that the Opposite Parties have
also not paid his salary after July, 2022. Accordingly, he also
approached this Court for a direction to the Opposite Parties to
implement the order passed by this Court in the earlier writ application
and be released the salary of the Petitioner within a stipulated period of
time.
7. Learned Addl. Government Advocate, on the other hand
submitted that as undertaken before this Court in the contempt
proceeding the Opposite Parties are taking steps for implementation
of the order passed by the Coordinate Bench in WPC(OA) No.1979
of 2017. He further submitted that the Opposite Parties need some
more time to implement the order passed by this Court.
8. Considering the submission made by the learned counsels
appearing for the respective parties and on a careful examination of
the background facts of the present case, this Court is of the
considered view that in view of the order passed by the learned
Coordinate bench on 21.10.2022 in WPC(OA) No.1979 of 2017 no
further direction is necessary. Therefore, the Opposite Parties are
required to implement the order passed by the learned coordinate
bench. So far the present writ application is concerned, the prayer is
confined to release the unpaid salary of the Petitioner which
according to the Petitioner is pending since August, 2022 to till date.
9. Considering such limited nature of the grievance involved in
the present writ application, the present writ application is being
// 4 //
disposed of by directing the Opposite Parties to calculate, sanction
and disburse of the unpaid salary of the Petitioner as is due and
admissible to him within a period four weeks from the date of
communication of the certified copy of this order by the Petitioner.
10. With the aforesaid observations/ directions, the writ
application stands disposed of.
Issue urgent certified copy of this order as per Rules.
( A.K. Mohapatra )
Judge
Anil
Signature Not Verified
Digitally Signed
Signed by: ANIL KUMAR SAHOO
Designation: Junior Stenographer
Reason: Authentication
Location: High Court of Orissa
Date: 25-Jul-2023 11:28:32
