1 65-66-67.odt IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY BENCH AT AURANGABAD 65 WRIT PETITION NO. 12406 OF 2026 GAURAV PRASHANT DHANGAR VERSUS THE STATE OF MAHARASHTRA AND OTHERS ... Mr. Pramod A.Kulkarni, Advocate For The Petitioner Mr. V. M. Kagne, AGP For Respondents/State Mr. V. V. Gujar, Advocate For Respondent Nos.3 And 4 ... 66 WRIT PETITION NO. 12407 OF 2026 SARVARSING OMA PADAVI AND OTHERS VERSUS THE STATE OF MAHARASHTRA AND OTHERS ... Mr. Pramod A.Kulkarni, Advocate For The Petitioner Mr. S. R. Wakle, AGP For Respondents/State Mr. Rakesh N. Jain, Advocate For Respondent Nos.3 And 4 ... 67 WRIT PETITION NO. 12408 OF 2026 CHOTU RAGHUNATH MANDAPE VERSUS THE STATE OF MAHARASHTRA AND OTHERS ... Mr. Pramod A.Kulkarni, Advocate For The Petitioner Mr. B. B. Bhise, AGP For Respondents/State Mr. V. V. Gujar,, Advocate For Respondent No.5 ... CORAM : NITIN B. SURYAWANSHI AND ABASAHEB D. SHINDE, JJ. DATE : 23rd SEPTEMBER, 2026 PER COURT : 1. By these Petitions, the Petitioners have put forth two fold prayers. Firstly, that they should be granted minimum pay scale at lowest grade in the regular pay scale extended to the regular employees holding the same post. Secondly, they should be SVH 2026:BHC-AUG:44524-DB 2 65-66-67.odt protected against the termination of their contractual services. 2. Learned AGP has vehemently opposed the second prayer contending that the contractual service details of the Petitioners would indicate that some of the Petitioners have joined hardly six months to nine months ago. 3. Learned Advocate for Petitioners submits that time and again, this Court has concluded that those employees who complete 10 years or more in various establishments, need to be protected. The judgment in the matter of Secretary, State of Karnataka And Ors. vs. Umadevi (3) And Ors., [(2006) 4 Supreme Court Cases 1] is relied upon. He, therefore, contends that those who are working for 10 years or more should be protected against replacement by ad-hoc or contractual fresh ambulance drivers. 4. In so far as the grant of pay scale is concerned, this Court has dealt with the entire history of litigation with regard to the ambulance drivers, vide extensive order dated 30th August, 2024 passed in Writ Petition No.1913 of 2024 [Navnath Bhaskar Dive And Another vs. State of Maharashtra And Others]. The Hon'ble Supreme Court has crystallized the law in the light of various judgments delivered by this Court at the Principal Seat, at Aurangabad Bench and the Nagpur Bench. The order passed by this Court in Navnath Bhaskar Dive (supra) is on account of all the then pending ambulance drivers cases having been transferred to this Bench. SVH 3 65-66-67.odt 5. In view of the above, these Writ Petitions are disposed of with the direction that the Petitioners would be paid the minimum pay scales at lowest grade in the regular pay scales extended to the regular employees. In so far as, those ambulance drivers who have put in more than 10 years as contractual employees, their services would be protected, meaning thereby that they would not be replaced by new contractual or ad-hoc ambulance drivers, save and except, in the cases of removal from contractual service on account of age or misdemeanor. 6. The pay scale granted by this Court shall be paid prospectively. We would also advise the Zilla Parishad and the State Government to ensure that the fresh tenders or contracts by which the services of contractual ambulance drivers are renewed or extended or freshly engaged due to available vacancies, the tender document must indicate the pay scale which will have to be mandatorily paid to these drivers and accordingly the financial aspect of the tenders shall be taken care of by the State Government. Needless to state, further directions that are issued in Navnath Bhaskar Dive (supra) with regard to the payment of the wages to the contractual drivers directly by the Zilla Parishad or by the State Government, would be equally applicable. (ABASAHEB D. SHINDE, J.) (NITIN B. SURYAWANSHI, J.) SVH