Using MGNREGA Funds To Pay Skilled Employees Cannot Justify Denial Of Regularisation: HP High Court

The Himachal Pradesh High Court held that MGNREGA is designed only for unskilled manual work, and cannot be used to deny regularization to skilled roles like Computer Operators.The Court observed that the State wrongly used MGNREGA funds to pay for skilled services despite having sanctioned posts.Rejecting the State's contention, Justice Sandeep Sharma remarked that: “Unskilled manual work means any physical work which any adult person can do without special training. Petitioners, being skilled Computer Operators, could not have been assigned such work, but the State, noting the need for manpower, employed them and used MGNREGA funds to meet the expenditure.”In 2007, Himachal Pradesh Government approved filling posts of Computer Operators, the posts were sanctioned with prior concurrence of the Finance Department.The petitioner applied and was selected on a contract basis with a fixed salary of ₹6,000 per month. In 2012, the government passed Recruitment and Promotion Rules, which prescribed that contractual employees' services would be regularized after six years. However, the petitioners had completed six years by 2014, but their services were still not regularized.In 2017, the Government granted regular pay scales along with allowances to contractual Computer Operators. However, they were denied certain benefits like earned leave and medical allowances.Aggrieved, the petitioners who had worked continuously for 18 years filed writ petitions. The Court observed that the petitioners have been working for more than 18 years and have the same pay scale as permanent Computer Operators and other employees being in a similar situation have already been granted the benefit of the policy of regularization so there was no justification to deny similar benefits to the petitioners. The Court also remarked that there was a dispute about the petitioner's qualification, and so there is no justification to accept the stand that the initial appointment was not made through the Himachal Pradesh Public Service Commission.Thus, the Court directed the State to regularise the services of the petitioners with effect from the date they were granted regular pay scaleCase Name: Subash Kumar & others v/s State of Himachal Pradesh & Anr. Case No.: CWP No.10354 of 2023 with CWP Nos. 10398, 10587, 10771,10772, 10775, 10801, 11004, 11005,11006,11007 of 2023 and CWP No. 05 of 2024.Date of Decision:01.09.2025For the Petitioner: Mr. Onkar Jairath, Mr. Piyush Mehta, Advocates.For the Respondents: Mr. Anup Rattan, Advocate General with Mr.Rajan Kahol, Mr. Vishal Panwar and Mr. B.C.Verma, Additional Advocate Generals and Mr. Ravi Chauhan, Deputy Advocate General, for the respondents-State.Click Here To Read/Download Order

Using MGNREGA Funds To Pay Skilled Employees Cannot Justify Denial Of Regularisation: HP High Court

Mehak Aggarwal

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