Summary
The Supreme Court advanced the effective date of regular employment for the concerned ONGC term appointees to the date of reference of their industrial dispute, 21 December 2004, and granted actual rather than merely notional benefits for the period before regular pay began in April 2013. Regularisation itself was no longer in dispute. The decision rested on recruitment against sanctioned posts with the sole irregularity of absence of public advertisement and prompt collective pursuit of relief.
Issues
- From what date the concerned workmen should receive regular-employment status and actual monetary benefits, regularisation itself having been settled.
Held
- The limited surviving issue was the effective date and benefits. The High Court’s regularisation conclusion had survived ONGC’s challenge, and the appointments were treated as irregular rather than illegal because lack of public advertisement was the only recruitment defect identified. (¶¶ 2, 6, 12)
- The cited regularisation decisions turned on different facts, including particular certified standing orders, a later policy, or delayed challenges affecting settled positions. They did not determine the date appropriate for these workmen. (¶¶ 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
- The workers promptly pursued a collective dispute after the term period, but adjudication took years. On these facts the concerned workmen, expressly including 111 of the 577 who had been regularised earlier, were to be treated as regular employees from the reference date, 21 December 2004, with actual benefits for the intervening period. (¶ 14)
Result
Appeal allowed. Regular employment directed from 21 December 2004, with all actual benefits from that date till 1 April 2013. Other directions of the Single Judge left intact.