Summary
Tamil Nadu engaged educated rural youth as village level workers (Makkal Nala Paniyalargal) on an honorarium under a scheme repeatedly introduced and disbanded by successive governments, last extended to 31 May 2012 but disbanded on 8 November 2011. The High Court quashed the disbanding order and directed the State to create posts and absorb the workers in any vacant government post. The Supreme Court set the judgment aside: courts cannot direct creation of posts; the workers were engaged under a scheme on honorarium and not against sanctioned posts governed by Article 309 rules, so Umadevi, Nihal Singh and Malathi Das did not aid them and no right to reinstatement or regularisation arose; at most they could have continued to 31 May 2012. Those who joined the State's 2022 MGNREGA-linked scheme continue co-terminus with it; the rest may claim six months' honorarium without interest.
Issues
- Whether the High Court could direct the State to create posts and absorb or regularise persons engaged on honorarium under a government scheme that was disbanded.
- Whether such scheme workers, not holding civil posts or appointed against sanctioned posts, acquired any right to reinstatement or regularisation on the strength of Umadevi, Nihal Singh or Malathi Das.
Provisions considered
- Article 309 (proviso) and Article 226, Constitution of IndiaThe workers were not appointed to any cadre or sanctioned post governed by statutory rules under Article 309; creation and abolition of posts is an executive function which the High Court could not direct in writ jurisdiction. (¶¶ 18, 47, 48, 49, 57)
- Sections 2(n), 2(p), 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10 and 12, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005The State's scheme of 7 June 2022 engaging one such worker per panchayat on Rs. 7500 per month is framed under this Act; persons joining it continue co-terminus with the scheme and should not be discontinued while it is in force unless unsuitable or superannuated. (¶¶ 14, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 50, 60)
Held
- Courts cannot direct creation of posts, which is an executive or legislative function involving economic factors, as held in Aravali Golf Club and Casteribe; the direction to create posts and absorb the workers against any vacant post across the State according to qualification was wholly misplaced and unsustainable. (¶¶ 46, 47, 48, 52, 57)
- The workers were engaged under a scheme on honorarium through a local shortlisting mechanism, not against sanctioned posts in a government establishment; Umadevi's one-time regularisation applies to irregular appointees on sanctioned posts, Nihal Singh concerned appointments under the Police Act, and Malathi Das turned on orders that had attained finality, so none assists them. Even if the disbanding order of 8 November 2011 was unsustainable, their engagement stood extended only to 31 May 2012 and no right to continue thereafter vested in them, as in State of Gujarat v. R.J. Pathan. (¶¶ 49, 51, 53, 54, 55, 56, 58)
- Successive governments repeatedly disbanded their predecessors' scheme for the educated unemployed; democracy cannot be allowed to be lost by permitting political parties to overrule their opponents' wisdom with State machinery, and though the order of 8 November 2011 may have been a policy decision, the sequence of events cannot be countenanced. (¶¶ 30, 31, 43, 44)
- Those who joined the State's scheme of 7 June 2022 framed under the 2005 Act shall continue co-terminus with that scheme; those who have not joined may accept the honorarium for 1 December 2011 to 31 May 2012 of Rs. 25,851 without interest, the State having offered it earlier, to be remitted within three months of application. (¶¶ 50, 59, 60)
Result
Appeals allowed; High Court judgment dated 19 August 2014 directing creation of posts and absorption of the village level workers set aside, with the observations that persons who joined the scheme of 7 June 2022 shall continue co-terminus with it and that those who have not joined may claim the six months' honorarium of Rs. 25,851 without interest; no costs.