1 NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR WPS No. 322 of 2023 1 - Ramesh Kumar Kashyap S/o Ram Kumar Kashyap, Aged About 44 Years Pump Operator Municipal Corporation Bilaspur District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 2 - Sarvan Singh Porte S/o Late Jhadi Ram Porte, Aged About 45 Years Pump Operator (Helper) Municipal Corporation Bilaspur District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 3 - Kailash Singh Jagat S/o Rajaram Jagat Aged About 35 Years Pump Operator Municipal Corporation Bilaspur District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 4 - Santosh Dhruv S/o Late Dhanraj Dhruv, Aged About 33 Years Choukidar (Pump House) Municipal Corporation Bilaspur District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 5 - Ajit Kumar Porte S/o Rajkumar Porte, Aged About 29 Years Pump Operator Municipal Corporation Bilaspur District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 6 - Gopal Prasad Yadav S/o Shivnarayan Yadav, Aged About 29 Years Pump Operator Municipal Corporation Bilaspur District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 7 - Kamlesh Kumar Sahu S/o Shyam Sundar Sahu, Aged About 33 Years Pump Operator Municipal Corporation Bilaspur District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh VISHAKHA BEOHAR Digitally signed by VISHAKHA BEOHAR 2 8 - Sudhir Kumar Kori S/o Narayan Prasad Kori, Aged About 28 Years Pump Operator Municipal Corporation Bilaspur District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 9 - Umesh Kumar Yadav S/o Ashok Kumar Yadav, Aged About 26 Years Pump Operator Municipal Corporation Bilaspur District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 10 - Dipika Pipraha D/o Purushottam Nath, Aged About 34 Years Assistant Chemist (Wtc) Municipal Corporation Bilaspur District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 11 - Rashmi Mishra D/o Jatashankar Mishra, Aged About 33 Years Chemist (Wtc) Municipal Corporation Bilaspur District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 12 - Smriti Rathore D/o Sushil Kumar Rathore, Aged About 35 Years Assistant Chemist (Wtc) Minicipal Corporation Bilaspur District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 13 - Manharan Lal Patel S/o Babulal Patel, Aged About 40 Years Pump Operator Municipal Corporation Bilaspur District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 14 - Sanjay Kumar Kesharwani S/o Mannulal Kesharwani, Aged About 50 Years Pump Operator Municipal Corporation Bilaspur District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 15 - Amit Banjari S/o Madan Lal Banjari, Aged About 34 Years Pump Operator Municipal Corporation Bilaspur District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 16 - Santosh Soni S/o Sudama Prasad Soni, Aged About 40 Years Pump Operator Municipal Corporation Bilaspur District Bilaspur 3 Chhattisgarh 17 - Gajendra Singh S/o Ramji Singh, Aged About 49 Years Pump Operator Municipal Corporation Bilaspur District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 18 - Dilip Singh S/o Sardar Singh, Aged About 29 Years Pump Operator Municipal Corporation Bilaspur District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 19 - Santram Koshale S/o Late Bhagola Koshale Aged About 52 Years Pump Operator Municipal Corporation Bilaspur District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 20 - Mukunda Yadav S/o Chhahura Yadav Aged About 49 Years Pump Operator Municipal Corporation Bilaspur District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 21 - Manish Pandey S/o Ramkumar Pandey, Aged About 40 Years Pump Operator Municipal Corporation Bilaspur District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 22 - Lokesh Kumar Ukey S/o Santosh Kumar Ukey, Aged About 33 Years Pump Operator Municipal Corporation Bilaspur District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 23 - Raj Ratn Ukey S/o Santosh Kumar Ukey, Aged About 40 Years Pump Operator Municipal Corporation Bilaspur District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 24 - Sandeep Bole S/o Ghanshyam Bole, Aged About 34 Years Pump Operator Municipal Corporation Bilaspur District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 25 - Raghuvir Sahu S/o Ramprasad Sahu, Aged About 38 Years Pump Operator Municipal Corporation Bilaspur District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 4 26 - Abhishek Kori S/o Shatrughan Lal Kori, Aged About 34 Years Pump Operator Municipal Corporation Bilaspur District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 27 - Chandrashekhar Pandey S/o Late Dinesh Pandey, Aged About 32 Years Pump Operator Municipal Corporation Bilaspur District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh 28 - Balwant Yadav S/o Navsingh Yadav Aged About 34 Years Pump Operator Municipal Corporation Bilaspur District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh ... Petitioner(s) versus 1 - State Of Chhattisgarh Through Its Secretary Department Of Urban Administration And Development, Mantralaya, Bhawan, Naya Raipur, District Raipur Chhattisgarh 2 - Secretary Department Of Public Health Engineering, Mantralaya, Bhawan, Naya Raipur, District Raipur Chhattisgarh 3 - Municipal Corporation, Bilaspur Through Its Commissioner District Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh ... Respondents (Cause-title taken from the Case Information System) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For Petitioner :- Ms. Apoorva Nigam, Advocate on behalf of Mr. Vedant Shandangi, Advocate For State :- Mr. Rahul Tamaskar, G.A. For Respondent No. 3:- Mr. Ashish Tiwari, Advocate ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SB- Hon'ble Shri Justice Amitendra Kishore Prasad Order On Board 27.11.2025 5 1. The instant petition has filed being aggrieved by the inaction of the respondent Commissioner, Municipal Corporation Bilaspur, thereby not considering the services of the petitioners as daily wages in place of placement agency. 2. By way of this petition, the petitioner has prayed for following reliefs:- “10.1 Hon'ble Court may kindly be pleased to direct the respondent Commissioner, Municipal Corporation Bilaspur to convert the services of the petitioners from placement agency to daily wages. 10.2 That, any other relief(s), which the Hon'ble Court deems fit & proper may kindly be pleased to granted in favour of petitioner;” 3. The petitioners were initially appointed as Class-IV daily-wage employees (Pump Operators/Assistant Chemists/Chowkidar) under the Public Health Engineering Department, Bilaspur, where their names were officially recorded as working after 01.01.1998. Due to lack of funds for operation and maintenance of the water- supply scheme, the Public Health Engineering Department informed the Municipal Corporation, Bilaspur in April 2018 that it could no longer pay the remuneration of pump operators and requested the Corporation to take over the scheme along with its staff. Subsequent departmental communications also directed the Municipal Corporation to assume responsibility for operation, 6 maintenance, and payment of employees. Accordingly, the petitioners’ services were handed over to the Municipal Corporation, where they were assigned duties through orders dated 09.04.2020 and 28.06.2021. Despite being initially engaged as Class-IV employees and earlier receiving a salary between ₹8,190–₹9,620 per month, the petitioners are now treated as “placement agency” workers under the Municipal Corporation and are being paid a reduced salary of ₹7,357 per month, giving rise to the present grievance. 4. Learned counsel for the Petitioner submits that the petitioners were initially appointed as Class-IV employees—Pump Operators, Assistant Chemists and Chowkidars—on daily wages under the Public Health Engineering Department, Sub-Division No. 02, Bilaspur, and their names were duly reflected in the list of Class-III and IV employees working after 01.01.1998, issued by the Executive Engineer, Public Health Engineering, Project Division, Bilaspur. It is submitted that due to lack of funds and non- availability of sanctioned provisions for operation and maintenance under the revised DPR, the Public Health Engineering Department vide letter dated 02.04.2018 informed the Municipal Corporation, Bilaspur that it would not be possible to continue payment of remuneration to the Pump Operators from April 2018 and therefore requested the Corporation to take over the scheme along with the staff. This position was reiterated by the Director, Urban Administration & Development Department in 7 his communication dated 07.06.2018, directing the Municipal Corporation to immediately take over operation, maintenance and responsibility for payment of the employees involved in the water- supply scheme. Pursuant to these directions, the services of the petitioners were handed over to the Municipal Corporation, and thereafter their duties were assigned through orders dated 09.04.2020 and 28.06.2021. However, despite being originally appointed as Class-IV employees under the PHE Department and having been paid wages of ₹8,190 to ₹9,620 per month, the Municipal Corporation is now treating them as “placement agency” workers and paying them a reduced salary of only ₹7,357 per month, which is arbitrary, discriminatory and violative of the principles of equal pay for equal work. It is therefore submitted that the petitioners are entitled to be treated as regular Class-IV workers under the Municipal Corporation with continuity of service and corresponding service benefits. 5. Learned State counsel submits that the present petition is not maintainable as no relief whatsoever has been sought against the State authorities, nor has any cause of action been pleaded which would attract the State’s involvement. The entire grievance of the petitioners relates to the alleged actions and service conditions under Respondent No.3—the Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, Bilaspur who alone is responsible for the operation, maintenance and administration of the water-supply scheme after its takeover from the Public Health Engineering Department. It is 8 stated that the State authorities have been arrayed only as formal parties, and their presence is not necessary for effective adjudication of the issues raised in the petition. It is further submitted that the averments contained in paras 8.2 to 8.9 of the petition pertain exclusively to Respondent No.3, and therefore the same may be suitably replied to by the Municipal Corporation. Accordingly, it is prayed that the petition, insofar as it concerns Respondent Nos. 1 and 2/State, deserves to be dismissed. 6. Learned counsel for the respondent No. 3 submits that the present writ petition is wholly misconceived and devoid of merit, and no relief as prayed for is made out against the respondent No. 3. It is stated that the petitioners seek a direction to convert their services from “placement agency” workers to “daily wage employees” under the Municipal Corporation; however, the petitioners were never appointed by the respondent No. 3 as daily wage employees nor were they ever part of the sanctioned establishment of the Municipal Corporation. It is stated that the petitioners’ engagement with the respondent No. 3 arose only as a consequence of the communications issued by the Public Health Engineering Department and the Director, Urban Administration & Development Department in 2018, wherein the respondent No. 3 was directed to take their services purely for ensuring uninterrupted operation of the water-supply scheme, and specifically under the condition that no appointment should be made beyond the sanctioned strength. It is submitted that there 9 were no vacant sanctioned posts of Class-IV or daily wage workers at the time of such transfer, and therefore, in compliance with departmental directions, the petitioners were kept only under the placement arrangement without being absorbed into the Corporation’s regular or daily-wage cadre. The respondent No. 3 is neither empowered to create posts nor permitted to convert placement workers into daily-wage employees without prior approval, sanction of competent authority, and budgetary allocation from the State Government. Any such conversion as sought by the petitioners is beyond the administrative competence. It is further submitted that several petitioners are no longer working, and their claim for absorption is therefore untenable. The payments made to the petitioners have been strictly in accordance with the sanctioned rates applicable to placement agency workers, and no legal or vested right accrues to them to seek a different mode of engagement. In light of the above submissions, it is humbly prayed that the writ petition, being devoid of merit, is liable to be dismissed. 7. I have heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the material available on record. 8. On perusal of the record, it is evident that the petitioners are not employees of the Municipal Corporation, Bilaspur (Respondent No. 3), but are engaged through a placement agency to assist in the work of the Corporation; their services are being provided on 10 the basis of the placement arrangement, and they have never been part of the sanctioned strength or regular/daily-wage cadre of the Corporation. Consequently, the petitioners’ request for conversion from placement agency employees to daily-wage employees of the Municipal Corporation cannot be granted, as they do not possess any legal or vested right to such absorption. However, considering the facts and circumstances of the case, including the period of service rendered by the petitioners at the Municipal Corporation, their prior experience as daily-wage employees in the Public Health Engineering Department, and the existing shortage of staff in the Corporation, it is appropriate that the Municipal Corporation may examine the case of the petitioners in a pragmatic and fair manner. The Corporation may take into account their experience and contribution while considering their future engagement or any recognition of their service, and pass appropriate reasoned orders to address the grievance raised by the petitioners. 9. The petition is accordingly disposed of. No cost(s). sd/- (Amitendra Kishore Prasad) Judge Vishakha