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State of Punjab & Ors. v. Jagjit Singh & Ors.

Civil Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Civil Appeal No. 213 of 2013)Decided 26 Oct 2016
Civil Appeal No. 213 of 2013
Justice J.S. Khehar · Justice S.A. Bobde

Background

A large batch of appeals (led by this Civil Appeal No. 213 of 2013, State of Punjab vs Jagjit Singh, with dozens of other connected civil appeals tagged "WITH") arose from a Punjab and Haryana High Court decision directing that temporary, daily-wage, ad-hoc, and contractual government employees be paid wages equal to regularly appointed employees doing the same work. The State of Punjab challenged this, arguing that temporary employees could not claim parity with regular employees as a matter of right.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court undertook a detailed historical and comparative review of the "equal pay for equal work" principle, including international labour conventions India has ratified. It held that the principle is a facet of Article 14 (equality) and Article 39(d) of the Constitution, and applies to temporary employees performing the same duties and responsibilities as regular employees, provided they possess the same qualifications and are not shown to be differently placed on any legitimate ground. On the facts, since the State itself conceded that the temporary employees were discharging the same duties as regular employees holding corresponding posts, the Court held they were entitled to wages at least at the minimum of the regular pay-scale for the same post. All the appeals in the batch were disposed of in these terms.

Lesson Learnt

A temporary, daily-wage, or contractual government employee who can show they are doing the same work as a regularly appointed employee is constitutionally entitled to at least the minimum of that post's regular pay scale: "equal pay for equal work" is not merely a policy slogan but an enforceable right flowing from Article 14 of the Constitution.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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