Finally, the Supreme Court has come to the rescue of the State’s adhoc stipendiary engineers as it has upheld the Odisha Service of Engineers (Validation of Appointment) Act, 2002.
Because of abolition of posts and austerity measures, hundreds of engineering degree holders had been debarred from appointment in the State Government jobs. Ventilating their grievances, the unemployed engineers had hit the street and raised protests against their joblessness by pulling rickshaws and polishing shoes in the late 1980s. After the Biju Patnaik-led Janata Dal Government came to power in 1990, a scheme was formulated to utilise these engineers in different departments of the Government.
Primarily, they were provided a monthly stipend for their sustenance, for which they were popularly called ‘stipendiary engineers’. Subsequently, the Government formulated a scheme to absorb them on an adhoc basis in a regular scale of pay against regular vacancies. In view of the plight of this group of low-paid engineers and particularly to ensure them service security, the Government in 2002 brought out the Odisha Service of Engineers (Validation of Appointment) Act.
But the regularly-recruited engineers of civil, mechanical and electrical wings of the State were up in arms against this Act. They were apprehensive of their future promotions and their seniority. So, a group of the regular engineers filed several writ petitions in the Odisha High Court. In a shocking blow to the stipendiary engineers, the High Court struck down the Validation Act on the ground that it was violative of Article 14 & 16 of the Constitution. At least 34 cases were filed in the Supreme Court and a good number of engineers also intervened in this legal battle.
After hearing the matter, a Division Bench of the apex court comprising Justices TS Thakur and Bikramjit Sen allowed the civil appeals filed by stipendiary engineers and the State Government and set aside the earlier judgement of the High Court in this regard, which has brought relief to the 800-plus engineers.