The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Wednesday stayed a single judge’s order directing the Pepsu Road Transport Corporation (PRTC) to regularise the services of employees engaged through an outsourcing agency, putting the relief granted to the workers on hold for now.

A division bench of Justice Sanjay Vashisth and Justice Ramesh Chander Dimri passed the order while hearing an appeal filed by PRTC against the April 22 judgment in favour of a group of outsourced employees led by Rohi Ram.

The bench issued notice to the respondents and fixed August 31 for further hearing. It also ordered that the case be heard along with another pending appeal involving the same issue. In the meantime, the court directed that status quo be maintained regarding the services of the employees concerned.

The single judge had directed PRTC and other respondents to regularise the services of the petitioners within six weeks. The order further stated that if no decision was taken within that period, the employees would be deemed to have been regularised. The court had also held them entitled to count their past service for benefits in line with earlier judgments.

The employees had approached the High Court seeking regularisation, equal pay and service benefits at par with regular staff, along with protection against termination.

Challenging the order, PRTC argued that the workers had been engaged through an outsourcing agency, M/s S S Service Providers, and not directly by the corporation. It contended that there was no employer-employee relationship between PRTC and the petitioners and that the outsourcing agency had not even been made a party to the original writ petition.

Appearing for PRTC, advocate Abhilaksh Gaind argued that the single judge’s order ran contrary to settled law on regularisation of contractual and outsourced employees.

The corporation also relied on a recent Supreme Court judgment, which held that workers engaged through contractors cannot be granted the same status and benefits as regular employees. It cited several other Supreme Court and High Court rulings, including the landmark Uma Devi judgment, to support its case.

According to court records, the employees had worked with PRTC through the outsourcing agency between 2014 and 2021. After serving a legal notice in January this year seeking regularisation and related benefits, they moved the High Court in February. The single judge allowed their petition in April, prompting PRTC to file the present appeal.

With the latest order, the operation of the single judge’s directions has been stayed until further consideration by the division bench.

Interestingly, the single judge’s ruling was a judgment in rem, meaning its benefit was extended to all similarly placed outsourced employees. As a result, the division bench’s order directing maintenance of status quo effectively puts on hold the directions regarding regularisation or deemed regularisation for all such outsourced employees, numbering more than 2,000.