Long service does not give right to seek regularization

In a recent judgment in Secretary to Government, Commercial Taxes and Registration Department, Secretariat and Anr v Singamuthu, the Supreme Court recently held that continuance in service for a long period on a part-time or temporary basis does not confer a right to seek regularization in service.

Singamuthu had completed 10 years of service as a part-time masalchi, doing menial work for the appellant department in Trichy, when the Tamil Nadu state government in 2006 directed that full-time daily-wage employees working in all government departments, who had rendered 10 years of service, be regularized by appointing them in the time scale pay of the post concerned, subject to their being otherwise qualified for the post.

Singamuthu filed a writ petition before Madras High Court seeking regularization of his service on completion of 10 years of service from the date of his appointment and seeking appointment as a watchman in the regular time scale. The petition was allowed by a single judge and unsuccessfully challenged before a division bench of Madras High Court. An appeal was then filed before the Supreme Court.

The dispute digest is compiled by Bhasin & Co, Advocates, a corporate law firm based in New Delhi. The authors can be contacted at lbhasin@bhasinco.in or lbhasin@gmail.com. Readers should not act on the basis of this information without seeking professional legal advice.