Transport Corporation Employees Not Entitled To Govt Service Benefits, Says Jammu Kashmir High Court

Srinagar: The High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh has dismissed a long-pending service petition filed by a group of transport corporation employees, ruling that they cannot claim benefits reserved for government servants under specific statutory rules.

In an 11-page judgement, Justice Sanjay Dhar held that employees of the Jammu and Kashmir State Road Transport Corporation (JKSRTC) are not entitled to benefits under SRO 14 of 1996 and SRO 225 of 1997, as these were never adopted by the corporation.

The petition, SWP No. 1088 of 2017, was filed by Amarjeet Singh and several others, all employees linked to the erstwhile government transport undertaking (GTU), that later came under the corporation. They had challenged a 2012 order issued by the corporation rejecting their claim for extension of benefits under the two SROs. They also sought release of unpaid salary from March 2002.

The petitioners were represented by senior advocate ZA Qureshi along with advocate Rehana Fayaz. The respondents included the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and officials of the transport corporation. The government was represented by advocate Furqaan Yaqoob, while the corporation was represented by advocate Shakir Haqani.

The court noted that the issue was not new. The petitioners had earlier approached the court in 2002 seeking similar relief. That petition was disposed of in 2011 with directions to the authorities to consider their claims. Following this, the corporation passed the order rejecting their demands, which led to the present litigation.

At the heart of the dispute was whether employees absorbed into the corporation from the erstwhile government transport setup could claim service benefits on par with government employees.

Justice Dhar relied heavily on an earlier Division Bench ruling in Shah Mohammad's case, which had settled the legal position on this issue. The court reiterated that once employees became part of the corporation, they could not seek benefits beyond those available under the corporation’s own service framework.

“The matter regarding entitlement of employees of the erstwhile GTU stands already settled,” the court observed, adding that such employees “cannot ask for any benefit beyond the pensionary benefits available to a government employee.”

The judgement clarified that SRO 14 of 1996 and SRO 225 of 1997 were never extended to corporation employees. As a result, any claim based on those provisions was legally untenable.

The court also held that the earlier case (LPA No. 32 of 2012) dealt with a different issue related to dearness allowance and cost of living allowance and did not establish that corporation employees should be governed by government service rules.

“It is nowhere provided in the said judgement that employees of the Corporation are entitled to be governed by the service conditions applicable to government employees.”

“I do not find any merit in this petition. The same is dismissed accordingly,” Justice Dhar said.

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