After 30 years as sweeper, Andhra Pradesh woman wins legal battle against state body trying to oust her

Justice Venkateswarlu Nimmagadda

“It is a settled proposition of law that once the petitioner has continued the services for more than three decades, the right of the petitioner for absorption as a regular employee cannot be denied on the ground that there is no sanctioned post, and after extraction of services for a period of more than 30 years,” the court said on April 2.

Decades-long dispute over service regularisation

The petitioner, R Amuda, began her service as a sweeper in 1989 on a monthly wage of Rs 50. Despite working continuously for more than 30 years, she was paid a “meagre” salary of Rs 6,700 per month and was denied the benefits and regularisation granted to her colleagues.

In 2004, the petitioner was absorbed into the Last Grade Service, but she was not paid the salary attached to that grade.

In 2015, Amuda had secured favourable orders in which courts explicitly directed the respondents to grant her pay fixation and benefits in line with those of her colleague.

However, instead of implementing these orders, the Andhra Pradesh Scheduled Tribe Coop Finance Corporation Ltd (TRICOR) issued a notice on December 15, 2022, dispensing with her services on the grounds that no sanctioned pest existed. Following the order of TRICOR, the petitioner moved to the high court, seeking regularisation of her service.

State’s stand

Representing the state, advocates Ramalingeswara Rao Kocharla Kota, and Bobba Hari Prasad Reddy argued that while considering the services of the petitioner, the respondents conducted a detailed enquiry in respect of the services of the petitioner, wherein it was found that she suppressed the fact that she was working in another government office and also drew wages.

They further argued that it is also found that the leave certificate submitted by the petitioner, as if she studied Class 8, was also not genuine and was fabricated.

Employer’s constitutional obligations

The court observed that the respondent authorities’ decision to terminate the petitioner’s service while a contempt case was still pending before the division bench was nothing but a deliberate attempt to flout the orders of the bench.
Highlighting that the contempt case is pending.

The order further characterised the state’s reliance on the “lack of a sanctioned post” as a transparent effort to circumvent judicial directions that had already become final.

Drawing on the Supreme Court precedent, the court noted that when a “constitutional employer” delays or avoids implementing judicial directions, it is not merely negligence but a conscious method of denial that erodes the dignity of the worker.

Other court rulings

• Asserting that a welfare state cannot operate on the spine of exploited daily wage workers, theRajasthan High Courthas ordered the regularisation of a driver who served the government for nearly 30 years.
• A division bench of Chief JusticeSanjeev Prakash Sharmaand JusticeSangeeta Sharma, while dealing with the man’s plea, said that the state, being a model employer, is expected to act as a parent towards its employees, especially where theemployeessituated at the lower end of the socio-economic spectrum are concerned.
• “A welfare state cannot run core public functions on the spine of contractual/ daily wage workers and then wash its hands by pointing to the absence of sanctioned posts,” thehigh court’sorder said on March 16.
• Invoking the principles of Rajdharma and Bhagavat Gita, emphasising the state’s obligation to nyaya (justice), anrishamsya (non-cruelty), and balanced governance, thePunjab and Haryana High Courtdirected the state to regularise the long-serving daily wage worker in accordance with theregularisationpolicy that was in force when they first became eligible.
• JusticeSandeep Moudgilwas hearing a batch of petitions filed by daily wage workers who were working as water pump operators and tube-well pump operators in the state department concerned since 1996, and sought regularisation of their employment.