New Delhi: Taking strong note of acute dissimilarity in perks and retirement benefits of temporary and regular employees, the Supreme Court on Monday said that the State as an employer cannot retain a workforce which does the same work as permanent staff but is denied corresponding benefits.
A bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and AG Masih set aside an order of the Patna High Court that denied pensionary benefits to temporary employees who have served for decades in the Department of Posts.
The top court said any classification resulting in the denial of any benefits to a class of employees who are otherwise similarly situated in terms of duties and responsibilities would fall foul of the constitutional ethos.
The bench said this court has taken a consistent judicial approach that long-serving employees, whether casual or temporary, particularly those who have been conferred recognised status, cannot be denied corresponding benefits including social security and pensionary benefits.
“The emphasis must be on ensuring that the State does not retain such employees in a precarious condition while extracting services identical to those performed by regular employees,” it said.
The bench directed the Centre to compute and release within three months the pensionary and consequential retiral benefits payable to a group of former employees or legal representatives of the employees who had rendered long years of service under the Department of Posts as casual labourers (Night Guards).
It said, in case of default, interest at the rate of six per cent per annum from the date of accrual till disbursement shall be payable to such persons.
