Page No.# 1/5 GAHC020004002022 2025:GAU-NL:329 THE GAUHATI HIGH COURT (HIGH COURT OF ASSAM, NAGALAND, MIZORAM AND ARUNACHAL PRADESH) KOHIMA BENCH Case No. : WP(C)/147/2022 SMTI. AKHENGE AND ANR W/C SEMI SKILLED LABOUR(FIXED), PEREN, NAGALAND 2: SHRI. MAYANGER MALI(FIXED) PEREN NAGALAN VERSUS THE STATE OF NAGALAND AND 7 ORS THROUGH THE CHIEF SECRETARY TO THE GOVERNMENT OF NAGALAND, KOHIMA 2:THE COMMISSIONER AND SECRETARY TO THE GOVERNMENT OF NAGALAND PERSONNEL AND ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS DEPARTMENT NAGALAND KOHIMA 3:THE FINANCIAL COMMISSIONER TO THE GOVERNMENT OF NAGALAND NAGALAND KOHIMA 4:THE COMMISSIONER AND SECRETARY TO THE GOVERNMENT OF NAGALAND PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT(HOUSING) Page No.# 2/5 NAGALAND KOHIMA 5:THE ENGINEER-IN-CHIEF NAGALAND PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT(NPWD) NAGALAND KOHIMA 6:THE EXECUTIVE ENGINEER PWD(H) DIVISION NO.1 KOHIMA NAGALAND 7:THE SUB-DIVISIONAL OFFICER PWD(HOUSING) PEREN NAGALAND 8:THE DIVISIONAL ACCOUNTANT PWD(HOUSING) DIVISION NO.1 KOHIMA NAGALAN Advocate for the Petitioner : KEKHRIESENUO, H ZELIANG Advocate for the Respondent : GOVT ADV NL, BEFORE HON'BLE MRS. JUSTICE YARENJUNGLA LONGKUMER O R D E R 24.07.2025 Heard learned counsel for the petitioners, Ms. H. Zeliang and learned Government Advocate, Ms. Livika for the State respondents. 2. The petitioners in the present writ petition are aggrieved by the non- payment of their salaries w.e.f. March 2020 till date and also for not granting them the minimum scale of pay. Page No.# 3/5 3. The learned counsel for the petitioners submits that the petitioner no. 1 (P-1) was appointed as Work-charged Semi-skilled Labour on fixed pay by an Office order dated 02.09.1994 issued by the Executive Engineer, PWD (Housing) Division No. 1, Kohima, Nagaland. The P-1 having Employee, Code- 0038 is serving the Department as Work-charged Semi- skilled Labour on fixed pay continuously for more than 29 years and presently she has completed 30 years of service and was receiving an amount of Rs. 3,200/- per month. 4. The petitioner no. 2 (P-2) was appointed as Mali on fixed pay at Rs. 750/- per month by an Order dated 09.07.1998 issued by the Executive Engineer, PWD (Housing) Division No. 1, Kohima, Nagaland. The P-2 having Employee Code-0083 is serving the Department as Mali on fixed pay continuously for more than 24 years and presently serving for 28 years and was receiving an amount of Rs. 5,900/- per month. 5. The petitioners had submitted various representations dated 18.05.2022 to the Engineer-In-Chief, PWD, Nagaland, Kohima praying for release of salary and also for granting scale of pay. However, the representations were not considered. Being aggrieved, the petitioners are before this Court. 6. The State respondents represented by learned Government Advocate, Ms. Livika has submitted on the basis of the additional affidavit filed on behalf of the State respondents that there are thousands of Work-charged employees both on scale pay and fixed pay. The Government of Nagaland had carried out a verification drive of the Work-charged employees under Page No.# 4/5 the Nagaland PWD. During the verification process several discrepancies in employee record including name, father’s name, date of birth and ghost employees were detected. Based on the findings the employees were categorized into three categories: Category A: Employees with no discrepancies in their records, and are regularly receiving their salaries. Category R1: Employees with minor clerical errors in their documents. Category R2: Employees with multiple errors in their documents. The Engineer-In-Chief, Nagaland PWD/R-5 vide letter dated 28.08.2024 had written to the Government for verification of Work-charged employees of the Category R1 and R2 under the Executive Engineer, PWD (Housing) Division No. 1, Kohima, Nagaland for clearance. In respect of the P-1 the date of birth did not match in PIMS and Aadhar and in respect of P-2, the name had to be corrected in the PIMS, the date of birth did not match in PIMS and Aadhar and the father’s surname was missing in PIMS. Due to these discrepancies, the salaries of both the petitioners could not be released from 2020 onwards. Therefore, unless the discrepancies in the PIMS are rectified by the Department of P&AR, Government of Nagaland and clearance is given, the salary of the petitioners cannot be released. 7. Learned Government Advocate submits that as far as the petitioners’ prayer for minimum scale of pay is concerned the same is covered by the Office Memorandum No. AR-3/GEN-67/2001 dated 05.03.2025 issued by the Government of Nagaland, P&AR Department. The petitioners’ cases Page No.# 5/5 will be considered for conversion of fixed pay to scale pay in view of this Office Memorandum of 05.03.2025. 8. The Court has considered the facts and circumstances of the present case and the submissions of the learned counsel for the parties. The learned counsel for the petitioners at this stage has submitted that all the discrepancies have been cleared and required documents have already been submitted to the R-6/ Executive Engineer, PWD (Housing) Division No. 1, Kohima, Nagaland on 14.05.2025. 9. Accordingly, the writ petition is disposed of with a direction to the State respondents to consider the cases of the petitioners for conversion of their service to scale of pay in view of the Office Memorandum dated 05.03.2025. In so far as the discrepancies in the PIMS is concerned, as the learned counsel for the petitioner has submitted that the required documents have already been submitted to the concerned Department/ Executive Engineer, PWD (Housing) Division No. 1, Kohima, Nagaland, the R-6 shall submit the same to the Department of P&AR/R-2 expeditiously and thereafter the R-2 shall take steps for rectification of their service records and accord clearance so that the petitioners can receive their salaries. The entire exercise shall be completed within a period of 2 (two) months from the date of receipt of a copy of this Order. JUDGE Comparing Assistant