The Allahabad High Court has held that employees engaged by District Rural Development Agencies (DRDAs) cannot claim regularisation under the Uttar Pradesh Regularisation of Persons Working on Daily Wages or on Work Charge or on Contract in Government Departments on Group ‘C’ and Group ‘D’ Posts (Outside the Purview of the Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission) Rules, 2016.
Justice Anish Kumar Gupta observed that DRDAs are societies registered under the Societies Registration Act and do not constitute Government departments. The Court further noted that these agencies undertake functions under schemes and projects sponsored by the Government of India.
The ruling came on a petition filed by 34 persons who had been engaged by different DRDAs between 1986 and 2003 as Data Entry Operators, Computer Operators and Programmers. They claimed to have continued in service for several years and sought regularisation or absorption against the posts of Computer Programmer/Computer Operator, along with the applicable regular pay scale. Alternatively, they sought regularisation as Statistical Assistants or Clerks in the DRDA.
The petitioners relied upon the 2016 Regularisation Rules and Government Orders issued in 2015 and 2021. They also contended that similarly situated DRDA employees in Uttarakhand had been absorbed into government service.
The High Court, however, rejected the claim, relying on Rule 2(3) of the 2016 Rules. The provision excludes persons engaged, employed or deployed on consolidated pay or fixed honorarium under schemes or projects of the State Government or under a Government of India-sponsored programme.
The Court held that since the petitioners were engaged by DRDAs, which are societies functioning under Government of India schemes, they did not fall within the scope of the 2016 Rules and therefore could not claim regularisation under them.
The Court also rejected the petitioners’ reliance on a Government Order dated August 13, 2015. It observed that the order covered Government departments, autonomous bodies, public enterprises and corporations, local bodies, development authorities and district panchayats, but did not include DRDAs.
The petitioners had additionally challenged orders dated February 3, 2009 and May 20, 2010, by which claims of similarly placed persons had earlier been rejected. The High Court noted that the petitioners were not parties to the proceedings or representations that resulted in those orders and, therefore, could not seek their quashing.
The Court observed that persons directly aggrieved by those orders could independently challenge them, but the petitioners could not do so merely because they claimed to be similarly situated.
The High Court accordingly dismissed the petition, holding that the petitioners were not entitled to regularisation under the 2016 Rules.
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