Meter readers’ plea on employment rejected
Saurabh Malik/Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 20
A petition by meter readers and bill distributors challenging the rejection of their claim to continue in service even after the Punjab State Electricity Board became Punjab State Power Corporation Limited has failed to find favour with the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

Justice Surya Kant has dismissed a petition filed by Manoj Kumar and eight others of Ferozepur district against the electricity board and other respondents. The petitioners had sought the quashing of an order dated March 25 whereby the “respondents had rejected their claim for continuation in service as meter readers, bill distributors and cashier on a contractual basis.”

In their petition, Manoj Kumar and others had claimed they were appointed meter readers and bill distributors by the “erstwhile” electricity board, now Punjab State Power Corporation Limited. The appointment was for a “specific term” on the payment of a certain amount on a per meter reading basis.

After going through the documents and the rival contentions, Justice Surya Kant asserted it appeared that the authorities had not found the contractual appointment given to the petitioners as financially viable and they had decided to go in for the outsourcing of services.

Justice Surya Kant added the petitioners were aggrieved at the outsourcing of the meter reading work, but in his considered opinion they had no legal right to claim the continuation in service with the respondent corporation. Justice Surya Kant added this was especially so when the job assigned to them earlier was sought to be outsourced as a matter of policy.

Post-unbundling, the erstwhile PSEB was replaced with Punjab State Power Corporation Limited — a company wholly owned by the state government, entrusted with the task of power generation and distribution.

Despite the change, the administrative set-up and infrastructure of the public utility company remains the same as the now-defunct PSEB.