Srinagar, Aug 29: The High Court of J&K and Ladakh has dismissed daily rated workers’ pleas seeking inclusion of their names in the list of Permanent Daily Labourers (PDLs) and Temporary Daily Labourers (TDLs) for their regularisation under SRO 520 of 2017.
A division bench of Chief Justice (Acting) Sanjeev Kumar and Justice Muhammad Yousuf Wani while dismissing two intra-court appeals by aggrieved daily-rated workers, upheld the October 31, 2025 judgment of its single bench.
The appellants had failed to establish that they were engaged before the March 17, 2015 cut-off date, the bench said.
The claim of the appellants was that they were engaged between 2012 and 2015 and that their names had appeared in earlier departmental lists but were subsequently excluded from the list of 472 PDLs and TDLs considered for regularisation. Moreover, they had called in question the inclusion of 37 other persons in the list.
In response to the contention, the court noted that an Inquiry Committee, after examining departmental records, found that the appellants were not borne on the relevant muster rolls or regular wage lists and that their CVs had been prepared after the ban on fresh engagement of daily wagers came into effect on March 17, 2015.
Mere inclusion in an earlier or preliminary departmental list could not, by itself, establish engagement prior to the cut-off date or create an enforceable right to regularisation, the court said.
While the bench found no merit in the contention of the appellants that their earlier inclusion created any right in their favour, it said a preliminary or provisional inclusion in a departmental list, by itself, cannot confer any right to regularisation when the requirement of engagement prior to the cut-off date remains un-established.
“The contention regarding the inclusion of 37 other persons also does not advance the case of the appellants”.
The Court observed that in order to claim parity, the appellants must first establish that they were similarly situated to the persons who were ultimately included in the final list.
“The respondents have explained that, upon verification, the persons included in the final list are found to have been engaged prior to the imposition of ban on fresh engagement of daily wagers with effect from 17.03.2015, the court said, after hearing appellants’ counsel and AAG Shahbaz Sikander.
Dismissing the appeals, the division bench upheld the single judge’s decision.
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