Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Apr 24: The High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh has dismissed a writ petition filed by the UT authorities and upheld the Central Administrative Tribunal’s order directing posthumous regularization of late Mohd Rafi Khan, who had served the Health Department for more than 21 years.
A Division Bench of Justice Sindhu Sharma and Justice Shahzad Azeem observed that after taking continuous service from an employee for over two decades, the State cannot later claim that he was merely an ad hoc or stop-gap worker.
The case relates to Sara Begum, widow of late Mohd Rafi Khan of Gandoh, Doda. Khan was engaged as Junior Assistant on November 26, 1993 and continued in service until his death on December 14, 2014. His case was recommended for regularization by the Empowered Committee, but his name was left out while his juniors were regularized.
The High Court held that such treatment amounted to hostile discrimination and violated Article 14 of the Constitution. It further observed that the State, being a model employer, cannot adopt a “hire and fire” policy.
Rejecting the Government’s argument that the relevant regularization law had been repealed, the Bench held that an accrued right cannot be taken away retrospectively.
The High Court also noted that the widow was seeking posthumous regularization so that she and her children could live with dignity and receive family pension and other lawful benefits.
Finding no error in the Tribunal’s order, the High Court dismissed the Government’s petition as devoid of merit.
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