IN THE HIGH COURT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH AT SHIMLA CWP No. 9233 of 2026 Decided on 19th June, 2026 Sh. Suffal Ram …Petitioner Versus State of Himachal Pradesh and others …Respondents Coram Hon’ble Mr. Justice Ajay Mohan Goel, Judge 1Whether approved for reporting? For the petitioner: Mr. Naresh Kaul, Advocate. For the respondents: Mr. Pushpinder Jaswal, Additional Advocate General, for respondents No.1 to 4. Mr. Tara Chand Chauhan, Advocate, for respondent No.5. Ajay Mohan Goel, Judge (Oral) By way of this writ petition, the petitioner has, inter alia, prayed for the following reliefs:- “a) to That a writ, order or direction may kindly be issued and the respondents may be directed grant the work charge status/regularization after taking into consideration 08 years continuous service of the petitioner w.e.f. 01.01.1993 to 31.12.2000, in view of the judgment rendered in Ashwani Kumar's case, thereafter, consider the date of superannuation of the petitioner 31.08.2012 instead of as 31.08.2010 (Annexure P-2), in view of the full bench judgment delivered in CWP No. 2711/2017 titled as Baldev Vs State of HP dated 22.02.2022(Annexure P-3), in the interest of law and justice. b) That the respondents may be directed to grant/sanction/release the "pension" w.e.f. 01.09.2012 after considering the work charge/regular service w.e.f. 01.01.2001 to 31.08.2012 i.e. about 2 11 years and 08 months time for the grant/release of the monetary benefits and arrears of pension with interest @ 12% per annum. c) That the pay fixation may be ordered w.e.f. 01.01.2001 to 31.08.2012 and the arrears of pension & consequential benefits such as Gratuity(difference), leave encashment (difference) alongwith interest @12% per annum may be ordered to be paid, in a time bound manner, in the interest of law and justice. d) That after granting the relief's as claimed in sub-para (a) to (c), the services of the petitioner as work-charge beldar w.e.f. 01.01.2001 followed by regularization till retirement may be ordered to be counted for granting /releasing the pensionary benefits and interest on delayed payments and arrears may be ordered to be paid @ 12% per annum and the same may be ordered to be recovered from the pockets of the erring officials, in the interest of law and justice.” 2. A perusal of the affidavit filed by the petitioner shows that he is 74 years old and the only explanation given by learned counsel for the petitioner on the query of delay and laches is that persons similarly situated have approached the Court and they have been granted similar reliefs. 3. This Court is not satisfied with the arguments put forth by learned counsel for the petitioner. Nothing prevented the petitioner from approaching the Court well in time. The petitioner is now 74 years old, meaning thereby what he is agitating is an issue, which is delayed by 16 years from the date of his superannuation and nothing prevented him from agitating this issue at the time of his retirement, but he slept over the matter. Not only this, a perusal of the documents demonstrates that the petitioner is seeking benefit of 3 the judgment delivered by Hon’ble Division Bench of this Court in CWP No. 3111 of 20165, titled State of HP and others versus Sh. Ashwani Kumar. In fact the judgment in the matter was initially delivered by the erstwhile Himachal Pradesh State Administrative Tribunal in the year 2014, which was upheld by the Hon’ble Division of this Court in the year 2018. Had the petitioner been vigilant of his right, he should have immediately approached the Court after the judgment/order was passed in the original application by the erstwhile Tribunal or within the some reasonable time after the adjudication in the matter by the Hon’ble Division Bench of this Court. 4. In view of above, the instant petition is dismissed on the ground of delay and laches. Pending miscellaneous applications, if any, also stand disposed of. (Ajay Mohan Goel) Judge June 19, 2026 (Guleria)