Srinagar- The High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh has dismissed two petitions filed by a group of daily wagers seeking regularisation under SRO 520 of 2017, which lays down the rules for regularising the services of daily wagers, casual labourers, and other similar categories of workers in government departments.

A bench of Justice Javed Iqbal Wani observed the authorities cannot be said to have faulted in the matter or infringed any of the rights of the petitioners in views of an inquiry report which has not been objected or challenged by them.

The court observed that fundamental grievance projected by the petitioners in both the petitions was that they were engaged and have been working as daily rated workers with the authorities and that their names were included in the list of Daily Wager earlier.

However, they said, later their names were not included in the list of Permanent Daily Labourers/Temporary Daily Labourers (PDLs/TDLs) framed by the authorities, which non-inclusion deprived them from seeking their regularization in terms of SRO 520 of 2017.

On the other hand, the grievance of the petitioners was vehemently opposed, controverted and resisted by the authorities, primarily, on the basis of a report of inquiry Committee constituted by the Managing Director O&M of KPDCL.

The authorities said that none of the rights of petitioners have been infringed or violated, while admitting that they were engaged on temporary basis. As and when required they were paid the wages for the period they worked, the authorities said.

They said that the petitioners' CVs have been found prepared after imposition of the ban imposed by the Government vide Order dated17.03.2025, as such, their names were not forwarded to the higher authorities for further necessary action.

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