E-Paper
Unbundling of PSEB to PSPCL,Transco: HC directs to regularise services of electricity board employees
The Punjab and Haryana high court has directed Punjab State Power Corporation Limited to regularise services of hundreds of employees, who worked with erstwhile Punjab State Electricity Board and were not considered for regularisation of services after unbundling of PSEB to PSPCL and Transo in 2010.
The Punjab and Haryana high court has directed Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PCPCL) to regularise services of hundreds of employees, who worked with erstwhile Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) and were not considered for regularisation of services after unbundling of PSEB to PSPCL and Punjab State Transmission Corporation (Transco) in 2010.
The high court bench of justice GS Sandhawalia and justice Harpreet Kaur Jeewan ordered that PSPCL would first consider all employees for regularisation of services who were working with it for a period of 10 years till April 2006 in view of apex court judgment in Uma Devi’s case, where issue of regularisation of services was dealt with. Secondly, the court said 2014 policy on regularisation would not be prospectively.
“The act and conduct of the Corporation and also in the manner in which they kept the part time employees hanging subject to the decision of the contempt also does not behove of a model employer,” the HC bench said reprimanding the PSPCL while referring to a court proceedings in the decade old dispute between employees and the PSPCL. It said, the employees even included even those who were working since 1978.
The PSPCL was in appeal in this case against the orders of the single judge bench of 2018, wherein erstwhile PSEB employees were ordered to be regularised. In all there were 60 odd petitions. The lawyers said, exact number of the beneficiaries can’t be calculated at this stage. However, the judgment, mentions number of one category of employees at 855, who as per court were not considered with the order of a chief engineer. Mainly, these were class-IV employees, a lawyer said, but in hundreds.
The court said, PSPCL failed to comply with the directions passed in Uma Devi’s case wherein, it was held that the state government and the instrumentalities, as a one time measure, have to take steps to regularize persons who had worked for 10 years or more in 2006. The process was to be set in motion within 6 months from the date of pronouncement which was April 2006 and, therefore, the needful was to be done immediately. No steps for making any such policy was taken. The steps were taken in 2014 (after unbundling of PSEB in 2010), on regularisation of services of employees but even then it was made prospective, leaving large section of employees, outside the ambit of 2006 judgment. The court further observed that PSPCL has accepted its liability as per the terms of unbundling of PSEB and now it has to comply with the 2018 orders of the single judge bench on regularisation of services of employees. The PSPCL has been given two months to implement the judgment.
