Placement Agency Hiring No Ground To Deny Minimum Pay Scale To Class-IV Employees: Rajasthan High Court

The Rajasthan High Court has held that employees engaged through placement agencies, working on various Class-IV posts, are entitled to get benefit of minimum of the pay-scale applicable to Class-IV employees of the government.

The bench of Justice Kuldeep Mathur relied upon an order passed by a coordinate bench in Dhariya v State of Rajasthan, where in relation to similarly situated employees, the State was directed to grant the benefit of minimum pay scale.

For context, the Court was hearing petitions by the employees, working in the Tribal Area Development Department on various Class-IV posts, after being engaged through placement agencies.

It was the case of the petitioners that they were being denied the benefits of minimum pay scale applicable to the class-IV employees, merely on the ground of them being engaged through placement agencies.

The counsel for the respondent submitted that since the petitioners were not appointed through a regular process of selection but by way of placement agencies, they could not claim the benefit of minimum pay scale.

After hearing the contentions, the Court referred to the case of Dhariya v State of Rajasthan, opining,

“…writ petition filed by a similarly situated employee has already been allowed by a Coordinate Bench of this Court. This Court further finds that the objection regarding the petitioners' engagement through placement agencies and their non-selection through a regular process was also considered by the Coordinate Bench in the aforesaid judgment.”

Accordingly, the petitions were allowed, and the State was directed to pass necessary orders, granting minimum of the pay scale applicable to Class-IV employees, in favour of the petitioners, within 60 days.