Holding

The schemes were intended only for temporary daily‑wage employment and did not create any regular posts; therefore no regularisation or equal‑pay order could be issued.

Summary

The petitioners, daily‑wage workers employed under various rural employment schemes (Food for Work, National Rural Employment Programme, Rural Landless Employment Guarantee Programme and later Jawahar Rozgar Yojna) were engaged by the District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) as supervisors/work assistants. They sought regularisation as permanent employees in the Delhi Development Horticulture Department, equal wages to regular staff and an injunction against termination, contending that DRDA was a department of the Central or Delhi Administration. The Court held that the schemes were designed solely to provide temporary wage employment to the rural poor, created no sanctioned regular posts, and therefore there was no legal basis for regularisation. It also clarified that DRDA is an autonomous society, not a government department, and that the right to livelihood is a Directive Principle (Article 41) rather than a fundamental right. Consequently, the petitions were dismissed, with the only relief being that the petitioners be kept on a panel and given preference for future vacancies if they are registered with the Employment Exchange.

Issues considered

The nature of the Jawahar Rozgar Yojna and whether it creates regular, permanent posts for daily‑wage workers.
Whether the District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) is a department of the Central or Delhi Administration.
Whether the right to livelihood/right to work is a fundamental right enforceable under Articles 14, 19, 21.
Whether the court can direct the regularisation and equal‑pay of workers employed under the scheme.

Legislation cited

Subjects

right to livelihoodright to workdaily wage workersregularisationemployment schemesJawahar Rozgar YojnaDirective PrinciplesArticle 21Article 41Employment ExchangeDRDAsocial forestry

Judgment

. DELHI ,DEVELOPMENT HORTICULTURE EMPLOYEES' UNION A
v. ' .
DELHI ADMINISTRATION, DELHI AND ORS.

FEBRUARY 4, 1992

~·
!
,.. ... · [P.B. SAWANT AND B.P. JEEVAN REDDY, JJ.) B
'•

9Jnstitution of India, 1950: Articles 14, 14 19, 21, 41-'Jawahar Roz-
gar Yojna'-Temporary Sclzeme to provide daily wage employment to mral
. poor and landless labourers during lean periods--Daily wage workers-Right
to be absorbed as regular employees-Consideration to be taken inta account. C

.· Rig!Jt to work and livelihood-Whether included in right to life-
as
Whether reCOg1lised a ftindamentq/ rigllt.

Labour Law: Daily wage workers-Recruitment--Regularisatiott-Fac-
tors for consideration. D
· Employment Exchanges (Compulsory Notification of Vacancies) Ac~
1959. .

Employment Exchange-Registration for employment-Recnlitment
tlrrough employment exchanges-Necessity for. E
The Government of India, during the Sth and 6th Five Year Plans,
formulated various schemes, such as "food .for work", "National Rural
Employment Programme", "Rural Landless Employment Guarantee
Programme" etc., to provide wage employment to agricultural and hm~less F
labourers in the country during lean periods. These programmes included
plantation of trees under social forestry scheme in the rund areas. The
~;
' entire work was done by providing daily .wage employment to rural
workers .of local areas without reference to any Emplo)ment Exchange,

or
, · In the Union Territory Delhi, the plantation work was monitored G
by the District Rural . Development Agency (DRDA). Since the work in·
vol\'ed kno~edge of plantation a~d agricultural practices, some· un-
employed Agricultural Graduates/Diploma-holders, including the
• Pt!ltioners, approached the DRDA and were given daily wage em~lo)~ent
under the said ·progrnmme: They were called Supenisors/Work Ass is·· H
565
SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1992]1 S.C.R.
566
A . taots, and were paid higher daily ~ages compared to those paid to the ... i
unskiUed workers. At no stage any regular posts were created under the
DRDA either for the Supervisors etc. or for the labourers, since th~
schemes were financed by the Government of India and the DRDA was
o~ly the implementing machinery.
- ~

B In 1988·90 the Government of India announced a new scheme, called
"Ja~'Bhar Lal Nehru Rozgar Yojna", for intensive employment in backward
districts where acute· poverty• and ~nemployment prevailed. Later oo., all
the Schemes were merged in 'one kiwwn as "Jawahar Rozgar Yojna". Under
this programme, the monetary assistance received from the Central
·C Government and the State Government/Union Territories .. . was given
directly to the village Panchayats ~bich exclusively made the choice or ,
work and employed the work-force. 'Tite DRDA ceased, w.e.f. 31.7.1989, to
be the machinery in these respects and was no longer directly concerned
with the payment of wages to the workers.
D
The petitioners ·filed the writ petitions before this Court for tfie
difference in wages paid to them and those paid to the regular employees
as also for their absorption in the Development Department of the Delhi
Administration and for injunction prohibiting the termination of their
E services. It was contended that they were employed by and were working
under the DRDA which was a department either of the Central Govern·
ment or the Delhi Administration and was not an autonomous body, and
that the DRDA continues to be the employing agency because the tenu~
~f th~ Pradhnns of Village Panchayats under the Union Territory of Delhi
· expired nod the administration of the Punchaynts was carried on by the
F Block Devdopment Officers.

Dismissing the writ petitions, this Court,

HELD: 1·1· The schemes under which the petitioners were given
G employment were evolved wlth the limited resources at the disposal of the
State to provide income ~or t h ose rural poor who were below the pon · rt"J ..
.
• ltn~ an~ particularly during tlte periods when they were without any source
of hvehhood and, therefore, without any Income whatsoever The object ·was
not to provide the right to work as such even to the rural p~or-much less
to the unemployed in • . l Tt b •
H genera· •ose employed under the scheme, t ere
fore, could not ask ror more than whnt the scheme Intended to give them.
EMPLOYEES' UNION v. DELHI ADMN. 567

To get an employment under the scheme and claim on the basis of the said A
employment. a right to regularisation, is to frustrate the scheme itself. No
Court can be a party to such exercise. [S78H; 579A; E-F]

1.2. It Is wrong to approach the problems of those employed under
the schemes with a view to providing them with full employment and
guaranteeing .e qual pay for equal work. These concepts in the context of B
such schemes are both unwart'dnted 'dOd mhplaced. They wiU do more
harm than good by drpriving the many of lhe little income that they may
-- +-- get to keep them from starvation. They would benefit a few at the cost of
the starving poor for whom the schemes were meant. That would also force
the State to wind up the existing schemes and forbid them from introduc- C
ing the new ones, for want of resources - the Central Government has
decided to discontinue Jawahar Rozgar Yojna in the Union Territory of
Delhi w.e.f. 1.1.92. This is not to say that the problems of the unemployfd
deserve no consideration or sympathy, but only to emphasise that en-n
among the unemployed a distinction exists between those who live below
and above the poverty line, tl1~e in need or partial and those in need of D
full employment, the educated and uneducated, the rural and urban uq-
employed etc. [579F·H; S77H; 578A; 580A]

2.1. For regularisatlon, there must be.regular and permanent posts
or it must be established that although the work is of regular and per- E
manent nature, the device of appointing and keeping the workers on ad
hoc or temporary basis has been resorted to, to deny them the legitimate
benefits of permanent employment. [p. 577A·B]

Shri N.iader & Arlr. v. Delhi Administration & Anr., (Writ Petition Nos.
9609-10/83) and Rattan Lal & Ors. etc. v. Lt. Govemor & Ors. etc. (Writ F
Petition Nos. 98, 99, 216, 938, .940/88) decided on 29.9.88 & 6.3.1990
respectively.

2.2. In the instant case, there was no scope for regularisation of
workers since there were no sanctJoned posts or the sanctioned strength
of workers. The Delhi Administration had at no stage engaged any of the G
pditioners for its work. The DRDA which was an implementing machinery
of the Jawahar Rozgar Yojna had engaged the petitioners on daily wage
.... _ ·- basis. The Yojna has not and cannot have any sanctioned strength of posts
or workers. The works by their very nature had to be undertaken on daily
wage basis and as soon ·as the works at particular sites were over, the H
568 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1992] 1 S.C.R.

A workers were required to be shifted to other sites. The workers were
engaged from the areas concerned and those like the petitioners ~ho were
willing to go to the sites where· the work was available, were also given the
employment under the scheme. In the circumstances, neither the DRDA
nor the panchayats could be asked either to ensure work to the petitione~ · ·
t!nry day or to regularise them. [p. 5778-G}
B
3.1. Broadly interprete~ and as a necessary logical corollary, right .
to life would include the right to livelihood and, therefore, right to work.
[p. S78C] +·
C Olga Tellis & Ors. v. Bombay Municipal Corporation & Ors., AIR 1986
SC 180), referred to.

3.2. The country has so far not found it feasible to incorporate the
right to livelihood as a fundamental right in the Constitution. This is
because the country has so far not attained the capacity to guarantee it,
D and not because it considers it any the less fundamental to life. Advisedly,
therefore, it has been placed in the Chapter on Directive Principles, Article
41 of which enjoins upon the State to make effective provision for securing
the same "within t~e limits of its economic capacity and development".
Thus even while giving the direction to the State to ensun! the right to
E work, the Constitution-makers thought it prudent not to do so without
qualifying it. [p. 578E·G1

4.1. The District Rural Development Agency, Delhi is an autonomous
body registered as a Society under the Societies Registration Act. It is
neither a department of the Dei}Ji Administration nor of the Central
F Government. It only implements policies of the Central Government under
the supervision of the Delhi Administration. It has no funds of its own.
For the implementation of the programmes of employment, the funds were
always placed at its disposal by the Central Government and it had to
spend them as per the prescribed guidelines. (p. 572F-H]
G 4.2. The employment programme under Jawahar Rozgar Yojna has
since been transferred to the village Panchayats. The Block Development
Officers are administering the affairs of the Panchayats till such time as
fresh elections are. not' .held. The vesting of administration of the
panchayats in the Block Development Officers during the intervening
H period does not change the fact that it is the village Pancbayats, which are
EMPLOYEES' UNION v. DELHI AD.MN. 569

allotted the funds for the Rural Emplo~ent Programme under the A
Jawahar Rozgar Yojna and it is they who choose the works to be carried
out an~ the necessary work-force to be employed. Hence they are the
implementing agencies. [pp. 572H; 573G-H; 574A]

S. If an order passed by this Court in a writ petition had procee«Jed on·
the assumption of wrong facts in the absence of the appearance by the B
respondent-DRDA and if under the pain of contempt proceedings the
workers involved in that petition were employed by the DRDA, the
._f. petitioners io the instant petition cannot rely upon theiremploymentin such
circumstances to plead discrimination against them. [p. 576G-H; 577A]

Vijay Pal Shamza & Drs. v. Delhi Administration & Ors. (W.P. No.
c
818/89 decided on 12.3.90) distinguished.

6. The pernicious consequences to which the direction for regularisa-
tion of workmen on the only ground that they·have put in work for 240 or
more days, has been leading to, has also to be taken note of. (p. 580B-C) D
It has become a common practice to ignore the ~mployment Ex-
change and the persons registered thereint and to employ and ge~ ~mployed
directly those who are either not registered with the Employment Exchange
or who though registered are lower in the long waiting ltst in tlie Employ-
ment Register. The courts can take.judicial notice of the fact that such E
employment is sought and given directly for various illegal considerations
including money. [p. 580 C-D]

7. The respondents cannot be directed to regularise petitioners'
services. However, the respondent-Del4i Administration sha ll keep the F
petitioners on a panel and, if they are registered with the EmpJoyinent
Exchange and are qualified ·to be appointed on the relevant pos~s~ ~:shall
give them a preference in employment whenever there occurs a "-'~l)cy in
the regular posts . [pp. 581A-B] ·

ORIGINAL JURISDICTION : Writ Petition No. 323 of 1989. G·

(Under Article 32 of the Constitution of India)

WITH

Writ Petition Nos. 324-25 of 1989. H
570 SUPREME COURT REPORTS {1992}1 S.C.R.

A R.K. Jain and Bhal Singh Malik for the Petitioners.

K. T. S. Tulsi, Addl. Solicitor Genera~ V.C. Mahajan, T. C. Sharma,
P. Parmeshwaran, Hemant Sharma and G.K. Bansal for the Respondents.

The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
B
SAWANT, J. The petitioner-workmen who were employed on daily
wages have filed these petitions for their absorption as regular employees
in the Development Department of the Delhi Administration and for __,.._.....
injunction prohibiting the termination of their services and also for the
C difference in wages paid to them and those paid to the regular employees.
The petitions are resisted on behalf of the respondents contending that
there is no scope for the absorption of the petitioners as they were
employed on daily wages with a clear understanding that the schemes
under which they were employed had no provision for regularisation of any
workman.
D
2. To understand the controversy between the parties, it is neccsary
to refer to the facts with regard to the employment of the petitioners as
brought on record by the respondents.

3. During the 5th Five Year Plan, the Central Government had
E
formulated various schemes to provide wage-employment to agricultural
and landless labourers during lean periods. One such scheme was "Food
for work". Under this scheme, employment was given to the poorer sections
of the population in the rural areas partly for food and partly for cash
payment. During the 6th Five Year Plan, the objective of the programme
F was enlarged to include alleviation of rural poverty by distribution of
income in favour of the poor and the needy population in the rural areas
by providing employment opportunities to them. With this view, a new
programme called the National Rural Employment Progtamme was started
in October 1980 replacing the "Food for Work" programme. During the
G period of the same Plan, another scheme called "Rural Landless Employ-
ment Guarantee Programme" was latinched on August 15, 1983 with the
same objective of generating additional employment in the rural areas
particularly for the landless workers. Under these programmes, works in
rural areas resulting in durable. community assets, social forestry, village
H roads etc. were taken up. Pursuant to them, a scheme for plantation of
EMPLOYEES' UNION v. DELHI ADMN. [SAWANT, J.J 571
. .

trees was taken up at various sites in the rural areas of Delhi. The entire A
said work was done by providing daily wage employment to rural workers
including the present petitioners. The labour was employed at these sites
depending .upoh their availability in rural areas and without reference to
any Employment Exchange either in the Union Territory of Delhi or
anywhere else. Since the Social Forestry Programme involved knowledge
B
?f plantation and agricultural practices, some unemployed agricultural
graduates/diploma~holders who were ready to work on daily wage employ~
ment and had approached the District Rural Development Agency
('DRDA' for short) through various officials and non·officials, were also
~ given daily wage employment under the said programmes.
c
4. For providing periodical daily wage employment, the officials of
the DRDA made assessments with reference to particular sites. The num~
ber of workers who could be ,provided employment in the succeeding
month was finalised in the last week of the preceding month. Since the
schemes themselves were meant only to provide daily wage employment, D
the workers were paid only for actual working days. The educated workers
like the petitioners were employed to guide unskilled workers in actual
plantation work and were paid higher daily wages compared to those paid
to the unskilled workers. However, the wages conformed to the minimum
wages as notified· by the Delhi Administration for different categories. To E
identify the educated workers from the uneducated and unskilled workers
and to facilitate payment of the wages, the educated workers were called
Supervisors/Work Assistants etc. and others were known as labourers. At
no stage any regular posts were created under the DRDA either for the
Supervisors etc. or for the labourers, as it was not possible to do so since
F
-y the schemes were financed by the Government of India, and the DRDA
~ was only the implementing machinery for the employment programme
under the said schemes.

5. In 1988·90 the Central Government- announced a new scheme for
· intensive employment in backward districts where acute poverty and un~ G
employment prevailed. In all 120 districts were identified for the purpose
and the new sheme was named as ''Jawaharlal Nehru Rozgar Yojna". The
Government of India t~en decided to merge Rural Employment
Programme and Rural Landless Employment Guarantee Programme as
- l..
well as the Jawaharlal Nehru Rozgar Yojna into one rural employment H
-
572 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1992}1 S.C.R.

A programme to be known as Jawahar Rozgar YojnaM. Under this
11

programme, the assistance received from the Central Government as well
as the State Governments/Union Territories was required to be given to
the village panchayats to increase the coverage of the programme and to
ensure fuller participation of the people in its implementation.
B
6. In view of the transfer of the responsibility to implement the
programme to village panchayats from the DRDA, the latter ceased to be
the machinery for employing either the Supervisors or the unskilled
labourers and for choosing the works to be implemented and for distribut-
ing the funds, since the funds were thereafter placed by the Central
c Government directly in the hands of the village panchayats. The DRDA
thus ceased to be the implementing machinery w.e.f. July 31, 1989.

7. The Union Territory of Delhi has 191 panchayats. In pursuance of
the directive of the Department of the Rural Development, Ministry of
.D Agricultural Development, Government of India, the Union Territory has
been providing funds to the village pradhans and has also been monitoring
the programme to the extent of the mandate given to it in the guidelines
of the scheme. However, as stated earlier, the choice of work and of the
work-force which was hitherto made by the DRDA is now made by the
E panchayats taking into consideration the funds allotted to the panchayats
and within the overall guidelines issued by the Central Government. The
works taken up by the panchayats also include the Social Forestry works.
Thus the DRDA was no longer directly concerned with the Social Forestry
work or the employment under it or with the payment of wages to the
workers which is exclusively left to village panchayats.
F
8. It is necessary in this connection to note two more facts. The ~
DRDA, Delhi is an autonomous· body registered as a Society under the
Societies Registration Act. It is neither a department of the Delhi Ad-
ministration nor of the Central Government. It only implements policies of
G the Central Government under the supervision of the Delhi Administra-
tion. It has no funds of its own. For the implementation of the programmes
of cmpl9yment, the funds were always placed at its disposal by the Central
Government and it had to spend them as per the prescribed guidelines. As
stated earlier, the employment programme under Jawahar Rozgar Yojna
H has since been transferred to the Panchayats. On behalf of the petitioners, _. ·
. EMPLOYEES' UNION v. DELHI ADMN. [SAWANT, J.] 573

it was contended that DRDA was a department either of the Central A
Government or of the Delhi A:dministration and was not an autonomous
body much less was it registered under the Societies Registration Act. In
view of what is stated in paragraph 4 of the affidavit filed by the Director,
Rural Develop~ent-cum-Project Director, DRDA in May 1990, we are of
the view that the fact that DRDA is registered as a Society and is an B
autonomous body cannot be disputed. In one of the affidavits filed by Shri
Tej Pal Singh on behalf of the petitioners, it was accepted that the DRDA
was an autonomous body. However, the contention was that it was under
1
Delhi Administration. The history of the registration of the DRDA as a
Society sp·eaks for itself. .In 1971, it was named as "Marginal Farmers and C
Agricultural Labourers Development Agency" registered as a Society
under ·registration No. 4940 dated 8-2-1971. As per the by-laws of the
Society, the Development Commissioner of Delhi Administration was
nominated as Chairman of the Society. Ever since then the Society con-
tinued to function as such with the Governing body of the Society taking
major policy decisions and with the Project Officer acting as Chief Execu- D
tive to run the affairs of the Society. In May 1976, the name of the Society
was changed to 11Small Farmers Development Agency". The changed name
was duly communicated to the Registrar of Firms and Societies. The name
underwent yet another change in 1981 and the Society was given the
present name - the "District Rural Development Agency~~. This change E
was also duly communicated to the Registrar of Firms and Societie~. All
these changes are borne out by the minutes of the meetings of the Govern-
ing body of the Society.

It was also sought to be contend~d on behalf of the petitioners that F
the DRDA continues to be the employing agency because the tenure of
the Pradhans of the village panchayats in the Delhi region has expired and
at present the administration of the Panchayats is carried on by the Block
Development Officers. We are not impressed by this contention, for the
simple reason that village panchayats continue as legal entities. The Block
Development Officers are administering the affairs of the Panchayat~ till G
such time as fresh elections are not held. The vesting of administration of
the panchayats in the Block Development Officers during the intervening
period does not change the fact. that it is the village panchayats (and at
present the. Block Development Officers on their behalf), which are al-
lotted the funds for the Rural Employment Programme under the Jawahar H.
574 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1992) 1 S.C.R.

A Rozgar. Yojna and it is they who choose the works to be carried out and
the necessary work.force to be employed. Hence, they are the implement·
ing agencies. The DRDA is not re-vested with the powers of implementing
the employment programme.

The next important fact which requires to be borne in mind is that
B the Horticulture Department of the Delhi Administration and the workers
employed by the Delhi Administration in the said department, have nothing
to do with the J awahar Rozgar Yojna and its predecessor schemes and the
workers employed on daily wages basis by the DRDA under the said
.schemes. H has become necessary to stress this aspect because we notice
C from certain orders passed by this Court and produced before us that a
good deal of confusion between the two sets of workers has been respon-
sible for some of them. The Orders in question are :- (i) Order dated
September 29, 1988 in Shri Niader & Anr. v. Delhi Administratiolf & Anr.
in Writ Petition Nos. 9609-10/83, (ii) Order dated Marcl1 12, 1990 in Vijay
D Pal Slzanna & Ors. v. Delhi Adminisu:ation & Ors. in Writ Petition No.
818/89, (iii) Order dated 31st October, 1990 in Dellzi Administration & Ors.
v. Vijay Pal S!Janna in Re\-iew Petition No. 562/90 in Writ Petition No.
818/89 (iv) Orders dated B·B-91 and 13-9-91 in Contempt Petiti.on No.
262/90 in Writ Petition No. 818/89, and (v) Order dated March 6, 1990 in
E Rattan La/ & Ors. etc. v. Lt. Govemor & Ors. etc. in Writ Petition Nos. 98,
99, 216, 938, 940/88. It is the Delhi Administration and DRDA which are
mainly responsible for this confusion. They failed to put in appearance at
the proper time and· present the correct facts before the Court.

Writ Petition Nos. 9609-1.0 of 1983 in which the first order of Sep-
F tember 29, 1988 was passed related to casual labourers on daily wages
working in the Soil Conservation Department, Agricultural Section, Delhi
Administration. They were working in the said Department for nearly 20
vears as casual labourers. On these facts, this Court had directed the Delhi
Administration to prepare a scheme for absorbing the casual labourers who
G had worked for one or more years in the Soil Conservation Department,
as regular employees within six months from the date of the order and to
absorb all such casual labourers who were found fit to be regularised under
the scheme to be so prepared. The Cour~ had also directed that until they
were so absorbed, the Delhi Administration should pay w.e.f. 1.10.1988 to I

H each of the said casual labourers working in tht~ Soil Conservation Depart- ~
EMPLOYEES' UNION v. DELHI ADMN. [SAWANT, J.] 575

ment the salary or wages at the rate equivalent to the minimum salary paid A
to a regular employee in the comparable post in the said Department.

In Writ Petition Nos. 98, 99, 216, 938, 940 of 1988 the workers
belonged to the Development Departme~t of the Delhi Administration
and, therefore, their case was on par with the petitioner-workers in Niader
& Ans. v. Dellri Administration & Anr. in W.P. Nos. ·9609-10 of 1983 decided B
on 29th September, 1988.

In Writ Petition No. 818 of 1989 [Vijay Pal Shanna & Ors. v. Delhi
Administration & Ors.} decided on March 12, 1990 the petitioners were
casual daily wage workers employed under the Jawahar Rozgar Yojna. C
They were not employed in the Horticulture Department of the Delhi
Administration. ll appears from the record that an application for interim
·relief, viz., I.A. No. 2 of 1990 was filed in the said petition for directing the
respondents therein who, among others, were the Delhi Admi~istration
and the DRDA, to pay to the petitioners the same salary as paid to the D
regular employees in the Horticulture Department. Although the main
petition was served on the DRDA, the interlocutory application was not
served on them. The result was that at the hearing of the interim applica-
tion, the DRDA was not present. It further appears that the Court at tile
time of the disposal of the interim application also disposed of the main E
petition and on the basis of the earlier decision referred to above in Writ
Petition Nos. 9609-10 of 1983 decided on 29th September, 1988 directed
the Delhi Administration to absorb the petitioner-workers under the
scheme which had been made effective by the earlier decision from 1st
October, 1988 and gave identical directions as were given in the earlier
case for paying to the workers the minimum salary paid to regular F
employees in tt. Horticulture Department. Unfortunately the Review
Petition filed against the said decision, viz., Review Petition No. 562 of·
1990 came to be dismissed on · 31st October, 1990. In the Contempt
Petition No. 262 of 1990 decided on 8th August, 1991 again there was no
discussion on the subject and the Administration was given time to comply G
with the orders passed by this Court on 12th March, 1990. The Contempt
Petition was adjourned by two weeks for enabling the .Delhi Administra-
tion to comply with the directions given on 12th J\1arch, 1990. The Con-
templ Petition again came up for hearing on September 13, 1991. a~d the
Court required the De~hi Administration to submit compliance report H
576 SUPREME COURT R~PORTS [1992] 1 S.C.R.
I

A within two weeks with regard to the "treatment meted out to the petitioners
similar to that meted out io 1200 employee~ who were covered under the
. scheme". The matter was directed to be plliced on Board after two weeks. ,

It may be mentio:qed in this connection that tlie. present writ petitions
B were filed on March 14, 1989 whereas the order in Writ Petition Nos. 98,
99,216,938,940 of 1988 was made on March 6, t996 and the order in Writ
Petition No. 818 of 1989 was made on March 12, 1990. The subsequent
order in Review Petition No. -562 of 1990 was passed on 31st October, 1990
whereas the _orders in contempt petition ·arising ~ut' of Writ Petition No.
818 of 1989 were passed, as stated above, on 8th August, 1991 and 13th
C Septembert 1991.

We may also mention here that the decision dated March 10, 1988
in Writ Petition No. 1351 of 1987 (R.K Soni & Ors., v. Delhi Administra-
tioll) on which the petitioners have placed reliance related to workers
D employed in the dei_Jartments of the Delhi Administration and they were
working in the said departments for more than 4 to 5 years. In that case
this Court had directed the absorption of the workers on regular basis.
They were first to be absorbed against Group 'D' posts and as and when
promotion opportunities arose they _were to be considered for promotion
E opportunities arose they were to be considered for promotion in Group 'C'
posts. Similarly, it appears that SLP No. 7660 of 1989 (Delhi Administration
v. Yoginder Singh & Ors.] is directed against the order of the Labour Court
in LCA Nos. 78-90 of 1986 and 153-55 of 1986 in which the Labour Court
had directed the Delhi Administration to regularise the services of the
persons working in the Horticulture Department as Horticulture Assistants
F under the Development Commissioner, Delhi.
.
9. The aforesaid review of the orders passed by this Court in various
•·
petitions shows that the order passed by this Court in W.P.·No. 818 of 1989
had proceeded on the assumption of wrong facts in the absence of the
G ·appearance by the DRDA. Unfortunately, as stated abovet the Review
Petition filed against the said order was also dismissed on 31st October,
1990. We are not aware as to how many workers were involved in the said
petition but we will say no more on the subject. We are informed that under
the pain of contempt proceedings the workers involved in that petition have
H since been employed by the DRDA. The petitioners in the present petition
/
-EMPLOYEES' UNION v. DELHI ADMN. (SAWANT, J.] 577
cannot rely upon their employment in such circumstances to plead dis- A
crimination against them. For regularisation, there mqst be regular and
permanent posts or it must be established that although· the work is of
regular and permanent nature, the device of appointing and keeping the
workers on ad hoc or temporary basis has been resorted to, 'to deny them
the legitimate benefits of permanent employment. B
10. The situation that emerges out of the facts which we have
narrated above, however, is that the Delhi Administration had at no stage
engaged any of the present petitioners for its work.. It is the DRDA which
as an implementing machinery of tlie Jawahar Rozgar Yojna had given to
the present petitioners work on daily wage basis under the said Yojna. The C
Yojna has not and cannot have by its very nature any sanctioned strength
of posts or workers. Even when the DRDA was implementing the said
Yojna they were being funded by the Central Government directly for the
J'Urpose of giving employment under the said Y ojna. They had to decide
the rural works which they would undertake in the next month and for that D
pUrpose to estimate in the last week of the preceding month the number
of workers required for the same. The works by their very nature had to
be undertaken on daily wage basis and as soon as the works at. particular
sites were over, the workers were required to be shifted to other sites. The
workers were engaged from the areas concerned and those like the · E
petitioners who were willing to go to the sites where the work was available,
were also given the employment under the scheme. Even that responsibility
of the implementation of the Yojna was transferred by the Central Govern-
ment from the DRDA to the panchayats directly who, as stated above, were
the only agencies which could choose the works to be carried out as well
as the work-force to be employed for the works. The finance was also
F
directly given to the panchayats for the purpose. The only task that was
entrusted to the DRDA was to monitor the working of the scheme by the
panchayats. In the circumstances, ·by the very nature of things neither the
DRDA nor the panchayats could be asked either to ensure work to .the
petitioners every day or to regularise them. There was no scope' for G
' regularisation since there were no sanctioned posts or the sanctioned
strength of workers.

11. It further appears from the annexures to the written submissions
filed by the petitioners and the responde·nt-Union of India that the Central H
578 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (1992) 1 S.C.R.

A Goyernment decided to discontinue even the Jawahar Rozgar Yojna in the
Union Territory of Delhi w.e.f. 1.1.1992 and the Development Commis-
sioner-cum-Chairman, DRDA has been asked by the Government under
their letter. dated 26.11.1991 addressed by the Joint Secretary, Government
of India, Ministry of Rural Development to take steps to wind up the
B emploYment programme tinder the said Yojna.

12. In view of the aforesaid facts reli'ance placed on behalf of the
petitioners on the decisions of this Court where regularisation has been
directed, is misplaced and the contentions based on them are miscon-
. ceived.
c
13. There is no doubt that broadly ~nterprete~ and as a necessary
logical corollary, right to life would include the right to livelihood and,
therefore, right to wor~. It is for this reason that this Court in Olga Tellis
& Ors. v. Bombay Municipal Corporation & Ors., AIR 1986 SC 180, while
D considering the consequences of eviction of the pavement dwellers had
pointed out that in that case the eviction not merely resulted in deprivation
of shelter but also deprivation of livelihood inasmuch as the pavement
dwellers were employed in the vicinity of their dwellings. The Court had,
therefore, emphasised that the problem of eviction of the pavement
E dwellers had to be viewed also in that context. This was, however, in the
context of Article 21 which seeks to protect persons against the deprivation
of their life except according to procedure established by law. This country
has so far not found it feasible to incorporate the right to livelihood as a
fundamental right in the Constitution. This is ~ecause the country has so
far not attained the capacity to guarantee it, and not because it considers
F it any the less fundamental to life. Advisedly, therefore, it has been placed
jn the Chapter on Directive Principles Article 41 of which enjoins upon the
State to make effective provision for securing the same "within the limits
of its economic capacity and development". Thus even while giving the
direction to the State to ensure the right to work, the Constitution-makers
G thought it prudent not to do so wit~out qualifying it. •
14. Viewed in the context of the facts of the present case it is
apparent that the schemes under which the petitioners were given employ-
ment have been evolved to provide income for those who are below the
H poverty line and particularly during the periods when they are without any
EMPLOYEES' UNION v. DELHI ADMN. [SAWANT, J.] 579-

source of livelihood and, therefore, without any income whatsoever. The A
schemes were further ·meant for the rural poor, for the object of the
schemes was to start tackling the problem of poverty from that end. The
object was not to provide the right to work as such even to the rural
poor- much less to the unemployed in general. As has been pointed out
by the Union of India in their additional affidavit, in 1987-88, 33 _pet. cent B
of the total rural population was below the poverty line. This meant about
35 million families. To eliminate poverty and to generate full emploYment
2500-3000 million mandays of work in a year, was necessary. As against
that, the J awahar Rozgar Yojna could provide only 870 million man.days of
employment on intermittent basis in neighbourhood projects. Within the C
available resources of Rs. 2600 crores, in all 3.10 million people alone could
be provided with permanent employment, if they were to be provided work
, for 273 days in a year on minimum wages. However, under the scheme
meant for providing work for only 80·90 days work could be provided to
9.30 million people.
D
The above figures show that if the resources used for the Jawahar
Rozgar Y ojna were in their entirety to be used for providing full employ·
ment throughout the year, they would have given employment only to a
small percentage of the population in need of income, the remaining vast
majority being left with no income whatsoever. No fault could, therefore, E
be found with the limited object of the scheme given the limited resources ·
at the disposal of the State. Those employed under the scheme, therefore,
could not ask for more than what the scheme intended to give them. To
get an employment under such scheme and to claim on the basis of the
said employment, a right to regularisation, is to frustrate the scheme itself.
No court can be a party to such exercise. It is wrong to approach. the F
problem5 of those employed under such schemes with a view to providing
them with full employment and guaranteeing equal pay for equal work.
These concepts, in the context of such schemes are both unwarranted and
misplaced. They will do more harm than good by depriving the many of
the little income that they may get to keep them from starvatiqn. They G
would benefit a few at the cost of the many starving poor for whom the
schemes are meant. That would also force the state to wind up the existing
schemes and forbid them from introducing the new ones, for want of
resources. This is not to say that the problems o'f the unemployed deserve
no consideration or sympathy. This is only to emphasise that even among H
580 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (1992) 1 S.C.R.

A the unemployed a .distinction exists between those who live below and
above the poverty line, those in need of partial and those in need of full
employment, the educated and uneducatsd, the tutal and urban un-
employed etc.

B 15. Apart from the fatt th<Jt tlie petitioners cannot be directed to he
regularised for the reasons given above, we may take note of the pernicious
Consequences to which the direction for regularisation of workmen on the
ohly ground that they have put in work for 240 or more days, has been
leading. Although there is Employment Exchange Act which requires
C recruitment on the basis of registration in the Employment Exchange, it
has become; a common practice. to ignore the Employment Exchange and
the persons registered in the Employment Exchanges, and to employ and
get employed directly those who are either not registered with the Empioy-
ment Exchahge or who though registered are lower in the long waiting list
~

D . in the Employment Register. The courts can take judical notice of the fact
that such .employment is sought and given directly for various illegal
considerations inCluding money. The employment is given first for tem-
porary periods with technical breaks to circumvent the relevant rules, and
is continued for 240 or more days with a view to give the benefit of
regularisation knowing the judicial trend that those who have completed.
E 240 or more days are directed to be automaticaHy regularised. A good deal
of illegal employment market has developed resulting in a new source of
corruption and frustration of those who are waiting at the Employment
Exchanges for years. Not all those who gain such back-door entry in the
employment are in need of the particular jobs. Though already employed
F elsewhere, they join the jobs for better and secured prospects. That is why
most of the cases which come to the courts are of employment in Govern-
ment Departments, Public Undertakings or Agencies. Ultimately it is the
people who bear the heavy burden of the surplus labour. The other equally
injurious effect of indiscriminate regularisation nas been that many of the
G agencies have stopped undertaking casual or temporary works though they
· are urgent and essential for fear that if those who are employed on such
~orks are required to be continued for 240 or more days have to be
absorbed as- regular employees although the works are time-bound and
.
there is no need of the workmen beyond the completion of the works .. -
H undertaken. Th'e public interests are thus jeopardised on both counts.
EMPLOYEES' lJNION v. DEUD ADMN. [SAWANT, 1.). 581

. . it is not possible to accede to the request
- · 16. In the circumstaJ,lces, . A·
of the petitioners that the respondents be directed to regularise them. The'
most that can be done for them is to ~ dac respondent Delhi Ad·
ministration to-keep them on-a panel' and if~ u-e·registered with the
Employnient Exchange and are qualified to ~ ·appom.ted on the relevant _
posts, give ·them a preference in em~loyment wheneyer there occurs a · B
vacancy~ the regular posts, which direction we give hereby. ·

With the above recommendation, we dismiss ~e petition With no .
·-----r-.. order as to costs.

R.P. Petitions dismissed.