Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, July 2: The High Court today directed the Government to proceed against the officials of the Public Health Engineering (PHE) Department who have fabricated the documents and fraudulently appointed casual labourers in the department and embezzled the Government funds.
Justice Ali Mohammad Magrey while hearing the petition filed by 281 persons claiming to be working as need based casual labourers in the year 2006 in Public Health Engineering (PHE) Division, Handwara and challenged the order issued by the Chief Engineer, PHE Department, Kashmir, Srinagar rejecting their claim that they have worked in the department as such are not entitled to wages.
“This becomes imperative, firstly, because there are allegations of criminal conspiracy between some local officers/officials of the Department and these petitioners of fabricating the documents and, secondly, the Court while disposing of the petitioners’ earlier writ petition, did not determine the entitlement of the petitioners or record a finding that the petitioners had, in fact, been engaged or were working as such”, court said.
Justice Magrey while dismissing the claim of these casual labourers expressed the hope that apart from vigorously pursuing the case with the Crime Branch, if it still continues to be under investigation, the competent authority amongst the respondents will proceed departmentally against the official culprits who have fabricated the documents and embezzled Government funds, and ensure that the departmental proceedings are brought to a logical end.
Justice Magrey directed the registry to send an attested copy of the judgment to the Chief Secretary in order to ensure that the respondents do not show any slackness in this regard, and expected the CS would persuade the concerned respondent(s) to take necessary follow up action in the matter so that guilty are brought to justice.
“In light of the above, the petitioners have failed to establish their case. Consequently, I do not find any merit in this writ petition and I am convinced that none of their rights have been violated or infringed by the impugned order. The writ petition therefore, merits dismissal and is so hereby dismissed together with the connected MPs”, read the judgment.
Petitioners stated that pursuant to the recommendations of the High Level Officers’ Committee, they were ordered to work as per the place of posting indicated in orders issued by the Executive Engineer, PHE Division, Handwara, bearing no.2054-60 dated 10.05.2013 and 629-29 dated 06.06.2016 and have been validly engaged by the respondents and have been working continuously without any interruption or break; therefore, they are entitled to payment of wages as directed by the Court in terms of its order dated 16.04.2012 passed in the petitioners’ earlier writ petition as such are also for permanent absorption in the department.
But in light of the clear cut stand taken by the Chief Engineer, PHE Department, Kashmir, in the rejection order, which is also repeated in the reply affidavit filed in opposition to the writ petition, that, as per the records available, the petitioners have not worked and are not entitled to any wages, as such Court said, a heavy burden is cast on the petitioners to clearly establish that they were, in fact, engaged and have worked or are working as need based casual labourers.
Justice Magrey further said that it cannot be disputed that there has been a practice in the PHE Department of engaging need based casual labourers and, in that connection, the concerned officers posted in the Division have been requesting the higher authorities of the Department for allotment of funds to defray the wages of such labourers.
“It transpires from the documents appended with the writ petition that the demand for allotment of funds has been made from time to time and sought to be substantiated by list(s) of such labourers with all relevant particulars of such engagements etc” , court recorded.
Court further added that there is also no doubt that the petitioners had approached the Court in 2009 claiming to be need based casual labourers with the grievance that they have not been paid the legally earned wages.
Court said , they would need to show to the Court from the documents appended with the writ petition that their names, in fact, figured in any such list before they had filed their earlier writ petition in 2009.
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