Direction to reconsider conversion of part-time casual labour to full-time status based on daily working hours.

The applicant, Smt. Vidya Devi, has served as a part-time casual laborer at Azamgarh SSA, BSNL, since April 1, 1992.

Relying on a Department of Telecommunications (DoT) circular dated September 16, 1999, she sought conversion to full-time casual labor status.

Her service history involves multiple rounds of litigation: she successfully challenged a forced contractual agreement in O.A. No. 1561 of 1999 (affirmed by the High Court in 2003) and obtained a direction in W.P. No. 46799 of 2007 for the respondents to consider her representation.

While the respondents issued a speaking order on August 11, 2009, denying conversion due to a lack of vacancies, a subsequent internal communication dated September 30, 2015, acknowledged that 53 similarly situated laborers working four or more hours daily had been converted and regularized.

The same letter confirmed the applicant was working six hours per day.

Despite these internal recognitions and a Tribunal direction on January 19, 2026, requesting instructions, the respondents failed to finalize her status.

Whether the applicant is entitled to conversion from part-time to full-time casual labor status and subsequent regularization in light of the DoT circular dated September 16, 1999, and the respondents' internal letter dated September 30, 2015.

The court primarily relied on the Department of Telecommunications Circular dated September 16, 1999, which established the policy for regularizing part-time laborers and converting them to full-time status.

It further applied the principle of administrative consistency and parity, noting that the respondents’ own internal correspondence (Letter dated September 30, 2015) identified the applicant as working more than six hours daily, thereby meeting the criteria applied to 53 other laborers who were successfully converted and regularized.

The Tribunal observed that it was an "admitted position" that the applicant had been working for more than six hours per day, as evidenced by the respondents' own letter dated September 30, 2015.

The court emphasized that the respondents had already converted 53 casual laborers—who worked four or more hours—into full-time laborers and subsequently regularized them under the 1999 policy.

Despite the applicant’s case being referred for similar consideration in 2015, no final action was taken by the department.

The Tribunal noted that the respondents failed to provide specific instructions or a valid justification for this inaction even after a court direction in January 2026.

Consequently, the court found that the applicant’s situation mirrored those already granted relief under the existing departmental policies.

The court further ordered the respondents to take subsequent steps to regularize her against regular posts as vacancies arise in the future.

This process must be completed within three months from the receipt of the certified copy of the order.

No order as to costs was made.