Punjab & Haryana High Court Rejects Claim for Ante-Dated Regularisation Under 1979 Policy; Holds Policy Inapplicable to Post-1979 Appointees
Case Name: Rajinder Kumar and Others v. State of Haryana and Others
Date of Judgment: 21 January 2026
Citation: CWP-10759-2025
Bench: Hon’ble Mr. Justice Sandeep Moudgil
Held: The Punjab and Haryana High Court dismissed the writ petition seeking ante-dated regularisation under the Haryana Government Policy dated 19.02.1979. The Court held that the 1979 regularisation policy applies only to employees who were in service and fulfilled the prescribed eligibility criteria as on the date of issuance of the policy, and cannot be invoked by employees appointed decades later. The Court further held that claims of parity based on earlier erroneous grants of relief cannot be sustained on the principle of negative equality.
Summary: The petitioners were working in the Transport Department as mechanics, tyre men, radiator repairers, blacksmiths and other workshop staff. They were initially appointed as Helpers on daily-wage basis between 1994 and 1995 and were eventually regularised with effect from 01.10.2003 under the regularisation policy then in force. The grievance raised was that their services ought to have been regularised from the date of completion of 240 days of continuous service in terms of the Haryana Government Policy dated 19.02.1979.
The petitioners relied upon earlier judgments of the High Court, including Jaimal Singh and others v. State of Haryana, pursuant to which certain similarly situated employees had been granted ante-dated regularisation. Representations submitted by the petitioners were rejected by the department vide order dated 12.03.2025, leading to the present writ petition.
The State opposed the claim contending that the 1979 policy was applicable only to a limited class of employees who were already in service as on 19.02.1979 and who satisfied the eligibility conditions prescribed therein. It was submitted that the petitioners, having been appointed much later as daily-wage Class-IV employees, could not claim the benefit of the said policy. Reliance was placed on binding Division Bench judgments in State of Haryana v. Kuldeep Singh and State of Haryana v. Hargian Singh, which conclusively held that the 1979 policy has no application to employees not in service on the cut-off date.
The High Court, upon examining the policy framework and the binding precedents, held that the 1979 policy could not be treated as a perpetual source of regularisation for employees appointed long after its issuance. The Court observed that the petitioners admittedly were neither in service on 19.02.1979 nor fulfilled the eligibility criteria contemplated under the policy. It was further held that the doctrine of parity cannot be invoked to perpetuate an illegality and that negative equality has no recognition in law.
Decision: The writ petition was dismissed. The Punjab and Haryana High Court upheld the impugned order dated 12.03.2025 rejecting the claim of the petitioners for ante-dated regularisation under the 1979 policy.