The 2015 wage-revision OM is not limited to casual workers engaged before 1993.

The applicants worked as part-time contingent-paid staff in various post offices under the Asansol Postal Division and sought revised remuneration under Department of Posts O.M. No. 2-53/2011-PCC dated 22 January 2015, with arrears from 1 January 2006.

The respondents denied the benefit, taking the position that it applied only to qualifying casual labourers engaged on or before 1 September 1993.

After their representations were rejected, the applicants filed this O.A.

Whether the 22 January 2015 O.M. restricts revised pro-rata remuneration for part-time casual labourers to those engaged on or before 1 September 1993.

Whether the applicants are entitled to that benefit, subject to verification of their engagement, service continuity, and working hours.

Department of Posts O.M. No. 2-53/2011-PCC dated 22 January 2015 provides for pro-rata remuneration for part-time casual labourers based on hours worked, calculated by reference to the specified minimum of Pay Band-1 plus admissible Dearness Allowance.

The Tribunal construed the O.M. as not expressly limiting that remuneration to workers engaged before 1 September 1993; that cut-off relates to the grant of temporary status under the 1993 Scheme.

The respondents also relied on DoPT O.M.s dated 7 June 1988 and 4 September 2019 concerning minimum wages for casual workers performing duties distinct from those of regular employees, but the Tribunal did not adopt those O.M.s as the basis for its determination.

The Tribunal read the 2015 O.M. as prescribing a method for calculating remuneration for part-time casual labourers and found no express pre-1 September 1993 engagement condition in its text.

It held that importing such an unwritten restriction from the temporary-status scheme could not, by itself, justify denying the revised remuneration to the applicants.

Because individual engagement dates, continuity of service, and hours worked had not been established, entitlement was made subject to verification by the respondents.

If an applicant is found to have been engaged and continuously working as claimed, the respondents must extend the pro-rata wage revision based on working hours and calculate and disburse the resulting arrears within 12 weeks of receiving a certified copy of the order.

The O.A. was disposed of without an order as to costs.