CUTTACK: In a stinging order, the Orissa High Court has pulled up the state authorities for showing “scant respect to court orders” and taking a relentless stance against a low-paid employee, despite losing multiple rounds of litigation.
The single judge bench of Justice Dixit Krishna Shripad quashed an order dated August 20, 2022 that treated petitioner Braja Kishore Mohanty, a choukidar/watchman at the DTET, Cuttack, as a fresh appointee instead of recognising his past service. Justice Shripad directed that he be deemed regularised from February 9, 2016, with all consequential benefits.
The judge further imposed a cost of `50,000 on the vice-chairman, State Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training, to be paid within 30 days and recovered from erring officials. “This amount shall not be charged on the public fund,” Justice Shripad ordered, adding that any delay would attract a penalty of Rs 500 per day.
Mohanty, who was engaged in 1995 after due process, had approached the high court in 2012 when his services were not regularised. His writ petition was allowed on February 9, 2016, directing the authorities to regularise his services within three months. The state’s writ appeal was dismissed on December 6, 2021, and its special leave petition (SLP) met the same fate before the Supreme Court on May 17, 2022.
However, instead of complying with the earlier orders, the authorities issued a fresh appointment order in August 2022, wiping out nearly three decades of service. Terming this move “unjust, arbitrary and illegal, to say the least,” Justice Shripad rejected the government’s defence that the post was unavailable and that justice had broadly been done by issuing an appointment letter.
Coming down heavily on the authorities for the delay in implementing the 2016 order, the court remarked that no explanation was offered “as to brooking of delay, which gives an impression of showing scant respect to the court orders.”
