Casual labourers performing duties comparable to regular staff are entitled to 1/30th minimum pay plus DA.

The applicant was engaged by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) as a casual ward-and-watch labourer at Lalitpur. He claimed that he worked approximately eight hours daily and performed duties similar to those of regular employees.

He challenged the ASI’s order dated 9 October 2017 barring daily-wage workers from the muster roll, the order dated 19 December 2017 rejecting his claim for wages at 1/30th of the minimum pay plus dearness allowance (DA), and a tender dated 28 February 2018 for outsourced labour.

The Tribunal had granted interim protection on 16 May 2018, directing continuation of his services and preference over juniors or fresh outsourced recruits if the need arose.

The applicant relied on muster-roll records and a duty chart in support of his claim; the respondents maintained that his engagement was intermittent and casual.

Whether the applicant, having worked as a casual labourer and allegedly performed duties similar to regular employees for about eight hours a day, was entitled to wages at 1/30th of the minimum pay scale plus DA.

Whether the challenged orders and tender could stand, and whether the applicant’s engagement could be discontinued or replaced by another casual worker.

The Tribunal relied on the DoPT Office Memorandum dated 7 June 1988, the ASI communication dated 11 May 2009, and the DoPT Office Memorandum dated 4 September 2019.

It applied the principle that casual workers performing work comparable to that of regular employees may be entitled to wages at 1/30th of the minimum of the relevant pay scale, plus DA, subject to verification that their work is of the same nature.

The Tribunal also relied on prior CAT decisions concerning ASI casual labourers, including Archaeological Survey of India Workers Union v. Union of India (OA No. 600 of 2017, Jabalpur Bench, 10 May 2024), and the Allahabad Bench decisions in OA Nos. 221 of 2019 and 594 of 2018.

Those decisions supported extending equivalent treatment to workers who were similarly situated to those already granted the 1/30th-pay status.

The Tribunal found that the muster-roll copy and duty chart supported the applicant’s claim that he worked for about eight hours a day, while the respondents had not substantiated their assertion that his duties differed from those of regular employees.

It also considered the similar relief granted in earlier CAT matters and the DoPT Office Memorandum dated 4 September 2019.

On that record, the Tribunal held that the applicant’s claim warranted relief, subject to the respondents confirming that the nature of his work was the same as that entrusted to regular employees.

It directed the respondents to continue the applicant’s engagement and, after verifying that his work was the same as that of regular employees, grant him wages at 1/30th of the minimum pay scale plus DA and other admissible benefits under the relevant DoPT instructions.

The respondents were also directed not to discontinue or disengage him, or replace him with another casual worker, unless a regular incumbent joined the post.

The directions were to be implemented within three months of receipt of a certified copy of the order.

No costs were awarded.