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Vinod Ravjibhai Rajput v. State of Gujarat

Civil Appeal · 2020 INSC 191Decided 14 Feb 2020
Civil Appeal No. 1601 of 2020
Justice Indira Banerjee · Justice A.S. Bopanna

Background

The appellant was appointed as a part-time Gallery Attendant at Bhuj Museum in 1995 and made a full-time Class IV employee in 2002, but his services were abruptly terminated in 2004 citing a government freeze on fresh recruitment. After years of litigation, a Division Bench of the Gujarat High Court in 2013 ordered his reinstatement (without back wages), but the authorities instead gave him a fresh appointment in 2013 rather than honouring that reinstatement with continuity of service. A further round of High Court litigation over whether he was entitled to "continuity of service" and its benefits reached the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the 2013 Division Bench order directing reinstatement had attained finality and was binding, so the authorities could not lawfully treat his 2013 appointment as a fresh appointment. It ruled that the appellant was entitled to reinstatement with continuity of service dating back to his original full-time appointment in July 2002, along with consequential benefits and differential salary between part-time and full-time pay scales, but without back wages for the specific period (December 2012 to August 2013) when he had not actually worked. The Court also held that a later government resolution on regularisation (framed pursuant to the Supreme Court's Uma Devi judgment) could not be applied retrospectively to defeat a regular appointment made back in 2002.

Lesson Learnt

A government employer cannot sidestep a final, unappealed court order of reinstatement by issuing a "fresh" appointment instead of restoring continuity of service, once such an order attains finality, it binds the authorities fully.

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

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