The Bombay High Court has refused to grant relief to three municipal employees who sought clerk pay scales from their initial daily-wage appointments in the mid-1980s. A Division Bench at Aurangabad dismissed their writ petition, holding that the municipal authority was right in withdrawing the earlier financial benefits and limiting them to the date of regularisation in 2001
The court found that the benefits claimed for the pre-regularisation period were never legally available to the petitioners and had been granted earlier due to misrepresentation.
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The petitioners were appointed as daily-wage clerks with the then Municipal Council, Parbhani, between 1985 and 1987. After facing termination, they approached the High Court in the early 1990s, which granted interim protection.
In 2001, the Divisional Commissioner regularised their services as a one-time measure, along with several other employees. The regularisation order clearly stated that earlier daily-wage service would not count for any monetary or service benefits. The employees also gave written undertakings accepting this condition.
Despite this, the petitioners repeatedly sought pay scale benefits from their initial appointment dates. Over the years, multiple orders granting such benefits were passed and later cancelled by the authorities.
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The petitioners argued that the 2017 order cancelling the clerk pay scale from their initial appointment dates was passed without notice or hearing. They claimed entitlement to equal pay for equal work and relied on Supreme Court judgments to argue that recovery or withdrawal of benefits was impermissible.
The Municipal Corporation, however, opposed the plea, pointing to the conditions of the 2001 regularisation order and the undertakings given by the petitioners. It was argued that the earlier benefits were secured through pressure tactics and misrepresentation.
A bench led by Justice Sushil M. Ghodeswar noted that the 2001 regularisation was a special, one-time exercise under the municipal law and came with strict conditions. The court observed that the petitioners were fully aware that their past daily-wage service would not carry any financial benefits.
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“The record shows that the authorities were misled on several occasions and illegal orders were passed contrary to binding conditions,” the bench observed, adding that the petitioners had also suppressed material facts by not placing their undertakings before the court.
The judges further noted that all other similarly placed employees had accepted the terms of regularisation, and only the petitioners kept pressing for benefits they were not entitled to.
The High Court held that the 2017 withdrawal order merely restored legality and did not call for any interference. It dismissed the writ petition, ruling that the petitioners could not claim salary or arrears for the period before their regularisation in 2001.
While the bench considered imposing costs for misuse of the legal process, it refrained from doing so after an apology was tendered on behalf of the petitioners. The petition was dismissed, and the rule was discharged
Case Title: Sahebrao S/o Sheshrao Pawar & Ors. vs State of Maharashtra & Ors.
(Writ Petition No. 10607 of 2017, Bombay High Court – Aurangabad Bench)
