In Brief
The Union of India challenged a High Court order directing regularization of casual workers at a regional training institute. The Supreme Court held that once regularization is undertaken with a seniority list prepared under tribunal orders, all similarly placed workers with requisite service must be regularized in strict accordance with seniority—juniors cannot be preferred over seniors. The decision in Uma Devi does not permit such discrimination. The Court rejected the direction to regularize workers in other establishments and mandated regularization at the Institute based on existing vacancies, with notional pay fixation and retiral dues for those exceeding superannuation age, to be completed within three months.
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