The State Regularised Him In The Wrong Post, And Must Put It Right
A daily-wage worker in Himachal had served eight years as a surveyor when the State regularised him — as a plumber. The High Court has ordered it to regularise him as a surveyor from 2006.
The Court held that the petitioner had completed eight years of continuous service as a Surveyor, so under the State's own 2000 regularisation policy he should have been regularised in that post. Regularising him as a Plumber was arbitrary, discriminatory and illegal. He is to be regularised as a Surveyor from 30 December 2006, with monetary benefits limited to three years before his petition.
- The policy decided it. Eight years in a post meant regularisation in that post.
- Seniority runs from 2006, the date of the original regularisation order.
- Arrears are capped at three years before filing, a common limit for delayed service claims.
- Mixed service was not the answer — the State could not add his plumber years to justify the wrong post.
- Court
- High Court of Himachal Pradesh at Shimla
- Bench
- Justice HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE JIYA LAL BHARDWAJ
- Citation
- CWPOA No. 906 of 2019
- Case
- CWPOA No. 906 of 2019
- Decided
- 8 September 2026
- Outcome
- Writ petition allowed; regularisation as Surveyor from 2006 with limited arrears
What happened
The petitioner worked on daily wages, first as a plumber and then as a surveyor. By the time of the regularisation order of 30 December 2006, he had completed eight years of continuous service as a surveyor.
The State regularised him as a plumber. He approached the Court in 2012 seeking regularisation as a surveyor from the same date, with consequential benefits and credit of his daily-wage service.
What the Court held
Under the State's policy of 6 May 2000, a daily-wage worker who completed the required continuous service was to be regularised. Since the petitioner had completed eight years as a surveyor on the date of the order, his services ought to have been regularised as a surveyor, not as a plumber.
Had he lacked the required service as a surveyor, the Court noted, regularisation as a plumber might have been right. But the State had wrongly interpreted its own policy, and its action was arbitrary, discriminatory and illegal.
The relief
The State was directed to regularise him as a surveyor with effect from 30 December 2006.
Monetary benefits are payable only for the three years before the petition was filed, not from 2006.
Who argued it
Appearances as recorded in the judgment of the Court.
Frequently asked
Can I be regularised in a post different from the one I worked in?
Not if you met the policy's service requirement in your actual post. The Court corrected such a regularisation here.
Will I get arrears from the original date?
Here, only for the three years before the petition was filed.
Challenging regularisation in the wrong post
- Collect muster rolls and orders showing the post you actually worked in, and for how long.
- Match your service to the exact terms of the regularisation policy.
- File quickly: arrears are usually limited to three years before the petition.
- Ask for seniority from the original regularisation date.
Source. High Court of Himachal Pradesh at Shimla, CWPOA No. 906 of 2019, decided 8 September 2026 by Justice HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE JIYA LAL BHARDWAJ. This explainer is written from the judgment text as reported.
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