In short. If you have worked for years as a casual, daily-wage or contract worker in a central government office, this page helps you see what you can realistically claim. Long service alone does not make you permanent, but in some situations it supports temporary status, wages at the minimum of the regular pay scale, or regularisation. The answer depends on who engaged you, when, and against what work. Gathering records takes a few weeks; a case usually takes a year or more. Start by collecting proof of every year you worked.
Is this your situation?
- You have worked for five, ten or more years as a daily-wage or casual worker in a central office, workshop or institute.
- You do the same work as regular Multi-Tasking Staff but are paid a daily rate or a fixed monthly sum.
- You were engaged before 1993 and were never given temporary status.
- You are paid through a contractor or manpower agency but take orders only from government officers.
- Workers engaged with you, or after you, were regularised and you were left out.
- You were stopped from work by an oral order after years of service, and someone new was brought in.
- You were regularised late and your earlier service is not being counted for pension.
Who engaged you decides almost everything
Before looking at any scheme or judgment, settle one fact: who is your employer in law? Workers in central offices fall into four broad groups, and each has a different set of claims and a different forum.
The first group is casual or daily-wage workers engaged directly by the office, paid from its own contingency or wage budget, often marked on a muster roll. The second is workers engaged on a consolidated monthly amount under a 'contract' signed with the department itself, common for data entry operators, drivers and project assistants. The third is workers supplied by a contractor or manpower agency, who are paid by the agency even though they work inside the office every day. The fourth is project staff in scientific bodies such as CSIR, ICAR or DRDO, engaged for a particular project and paid from its grant.
Claims for temporary status and regularisation are strongest in the first group. The second group can sometimes argue the same, depending on the terms and the length of service. The third group usually cannot claim a government post directly at all, and their remedies lie mainly in labour law. Project staff stand on the narrowest footing, because their engagement is tied by design to a project that ends.
Your appointment letter, if you ever got one, usually tells you which group you are in. Look at who signed it, which budget head it mentions, and whether it speaks of a 'project', a 'contract period' or 'until further orders'. Where there is no letter at all, the wage records show who paid you, and the duty records show who controlled your work. Both matter: an agency that pays but an officer who directs every hour of your day is a fact worth proving.
The 1993 scheme and the cases that shape it
DoPT Casual Labourers (Grant of Temporary Status and Regularisation) Scheme, 1993
Issued by DoPT in September 1993. It conferred temporary status on casual labourers who were in employment when the scheme came into force and had at least one year of continuous service, meaning work on at least 240 days in a year, or 206 days in offices with a five-day week. Temporary status brought wages linked to the regular pay scale, increments, pro rata leave and, later, regularisation against Group D vacancies, which have since become Multi-Tasking Staff posts.
Union of India v. Mohan Pal (2002)
The Supreme Court held the 1993 scheme was a one-time measure, not a continuing one. A worker engaged after the scheme began, or who did not have the required service on that date, cannot claim temporary status under it.
Secretary, State of Karnataka v. Umadevi (2006)
A Constitution Bench held that courts cannot order regularisation of people engaged without following the constitutional scheme of open recruitment. It allowed a one-time exercise for those irregularly (not illegally) appointed against sanctioned posts who had worked ten years or more without the cover of court orders.
Jaggo v. Union of India (2024) and Dharam Singh v. State of U.P. (2025)
In Jaggo, decided in December 2024, the Supreme Court ordered regularisation of long-serving part-time workers of the Central Water Commission and said Umadevi was being misapplied to deny relief to workers who had done regular work for decades. In Dharam Singh, in August 2025, it criticised selective regularisation and the use of daily-wage engagement for permanent work. These cases help, but they do not replace Umadevi; they apply it fairly.
State of Punjab v. Jagjit Singh (2016)
Temporary employees who do the same work as regular employees are entitled to at least the minimum of the regular pay scale, under the principle of equal pay for equal work. This supports wage claims even where regularisation is not possible.
What temporary status actually gave under the 1993 scheme
- Wages. Daily wages calculated on the minimum of the pay scale of the corresponding regular post, with dearness allowance and other allowances admissible to it.
- Increments. An increment at the regular rate for each year in which the worker put in the required days of work.
- Leave. One day of leave for every ten days of work, and maternity leave for women workers. Casual leave and other regular leave were not part of it.
- Status after three years. After three years of temporary status, the worker was to be treated at par with temporary Group D staff for certain benefits, such as contribution to the provident fund.
- Retirement benefits. On regularisation, half of the service rendered with temporary status counts for retirement benefits.
- Regularisation. Workers with temporary status were to be considered for regular Group D posts as vacancies arose, according to the recruitment rules.
Umadevi: what it closed and what it left open
Departments quote Umadevi in almost every reply to a casual worker, often as if it ended all claims. It did not. It ended the practice of courts ordering regularisation for anyone with long service, regardless of how they came in. It drew a line between engagement that was illegal (no post, no process, a straight backdoor entry) and engagement that was merely irregular (a sanctioned post, a qualified person, but some procedural step missed). The second kind could still be regularised in a one-time exercise.
Several things therefore matter in your case. Were you engaged against work that was perennial and that a regular post exists for? Were you qualified for that post when engaged? Was your engagement through some process, even an informal one, such as names called from the employment exchange or a notice on the office board? Did you complete ten years before April 2006, the date of the judgment, without any court order protecting you? A 'yes' to most of these questions makes a strong case.
Where the answers are mixed, the claim usually shifts from regularisation to fair treatment: wages at the minimum of the pay scale, no replacement by another casual worker, and consideration in any later scheme or recruitment with age relaxation. That is less than a permanent post, but it is real money and security. The 2024 and 2025 decisions show the Supreme Court is now less tolerant of departments that keep workers on daily wages for decades and then hide behind Umadevi.
Railway and postal casual labour: separate tracks
Railways and the Department of Posts had their own systems for casual workers long before 1993, and those systems still decide many claims. Railways engaged casual labour on open line work and on projects, and conferred temporary status after a set period of continuous work under the railway's own rules, with a longer period for project labour. Casual workers who were discharged were to be kept on a live register and re-engaged in order of seniority before fresh hands were taken. A railway casual worker should look for the live register entry and the casual labour card; the page for railway employees covers related disputes.
The Department of Posts had a separate scheme for full-time casual labourers from 1989, with temporary status and absorption in Group D, later Multi-Tasking Staff, posts. Part-time casual labourers stood on a weaker footing. Gramin Dak Sevaks are not casual labour at all; they are a separate category with their own conduct and engagement rules, and their disputes are explained on the page for postal employees and GDS.
Because these schemes differ in dates and day counts, read the circular that applied to your unit at the time you were engaged. The guide on records to gather before claiming absorption lists what railway and postal workers in particular should look for.
Paid through a contractor: a different claim
If an agency pays your wages, the department is the principal employer, not your employer. The Supreme Court in Steel Authority of India v. National Union Waterfront Workers (2001) held that contract workers do not get automatically absorbed even where contract labour is prohibited in a process. A claim for a central government post by a contractor's worker therefore rarely succeeds, unless the contract is shown to be a sham: the agency exists only on paper, officers recruit and supervise you directly, and the agency merely passes on the money.
What you can claim is fair wages and lawful conditions. The four Labour Codes, including the Code on Wages, 2019 and the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020, took effect on 21 November 2025, replacing the Minimum Wages Act and the Contract Labour Act among others. Minimum wages, timely payment, provident fund and ESI contributions, and the principal employer's liability if the contractor fails to pay, are enforced through the Chief Labour Commissioner (Central) and its regional offices, and industrial disputes go to the Central Government Industrial Tribunal.
Many offices also hire through the Government e-Marketplace. The same principles apply: the agency is the employer, and the remedies lie in labour law. Check whether the agency has been paying your provident fund; years of missing contributions are a common and fixable problem.
Building your claim, step by step
Write down your service history year by year
For each year since you started, note the office, the officer you reported to, the work you did, roughly how many days you worked and how you were paid. Gaps matter, so mark them honestly. This one page becomes the backbone of your representation.
Collect proof for each year
Muster rolls, attendance registers, wage vouchers, bank credits, identity cards, gate passes, duty rosters and letters addressed to you. If the office holds them, ask for copies by letter or RTI. Proof of days worked per year decides temporary status claims.
Identify the scheme or rule that applies
For directly engaged workers before September 1993, the DoPT scheme; for railway or postal workers, their own circulars; for later workers, the principles in Umadevi, Jagjit Singh and the recent decisions. This decides what you ask for.
Find comparable workers
Note the names of workers engaged with you, or after you, who were given temporary status or regularised. Selective treatment is often the strongest argument a casual worker has.
Make a written representation
Address it to the head of office and the competent authority in the ministry, through proper channel. Ask for specific relief: temporary status from a date, wages at the minimum of the pay scale, or consideration for regularisation. Keep proof of delivery.
Go to the right forum
If there is no answer in six months, or a rejection, approach the CAT, the High Court or the labour machinery, depending on who your employer is. Workers with common facts can file together.
Advocate B.K. Singh usually asks a casual worker for the bank passbook before anything else. Muster rolls go missing and offices deny engagement, but a bank record showing the same office paying the same person for twelve years is hard to argue with. If you were paid in cash, statements from regular employees who saw you at work every day are the next best thing.
Where many workers in one office have the same claim, a joint application is usually better than many single ones; see the page on a group application by several applicants.
Which forum hears your claim
Workers engaged directly by a central department or by a body notified under Section 14(2) of the Administrative Tribunals Act have for many years taken temporary status and regularisation claims to the Central Administrative Tribunal. Railway casual labour cases, for instance, have filled CAT cause lists for decades. Under Rule 6 of the CAT (Procedure) Rules, the application is filed before the bench where you work or where the cause of action arose. A casual worker in Patna goes to the Patna Bench; one in a Military Engineer Services division in Pune goes to the Mumbai Bench.
Where the claim is really an industrial dispute, such as termination of a worker in an establishment that is an 'industry' without notice or retrenchment compensation, or a dispute about a contractor's workers, the route is conciliation before the Central labour machinery and a reference to the Central Government Industrial Tribunal. Some workers have both routes open; the choice should be made once, with advice, because switching midway wastes years.
For bodies not notified under Section 14(2), such as many central universities, the remedy is a writ in the High Court; see the page on which forum hears central university staff. ICAR institutes are under the tribunal, and the page on ICAR employees deals with them. Workers in CAPF units and PSUs also go to the High Court.
What each route costs in time and money
| Stage | Typical time | Cost in general terms |
|---|---|---|
| Collecting records and RTI replies | 4 to 12 weeks, longer if first appeals are needed | Rs 10 per RTI application; copying charges per page |
| Representation to the department | Wait up to 6 months for a decision | Nil |
| Original Application before the CAT | Commonly 1 to 2 years for a final decision in contested regularisation cases | A small fixed fee per applicant (Rs 50 under Rule 7 of the CAT (Procedure) Rules; check the current figure and the rule for joint applications) |
| Conciliation before the labour authority | A few months; failure report then sent to the government | No court fee |
| Reference to the Central Government Industrial Tribunal | Often 2 years or more | No court fee; documentation and travel |
| Writ in the High Court | 1 to 3 years, varying widely by court | Court fee and paper book costs as per the High Court |
Records that prove your years of work
Proof of engagement and days
- Copies of muster rolls or attendance registers
- Wage vouchers, acquittance rolls or pay slips
- Bank statements showing monthly credits from the office or agency
- Office identity card, gate pass or entry permit
- Duty rosters, work orders or log books bearing your name
Proof of the kind of work
- Letters or notes from officers assigning work to you
- Training certificates given by the office
- Photographs at the workplace, with dates if possible
- Statements from regular staff who worked alongside you
Proof of unequal treatment
- Orders granting temporary status or regularisation to other workers
- Earlier tribunal or court orders in favour of similar workers in your office
- Employment exchange sponsorship letter, if you came through one
- Your representation and any reply
A made-up case: a field worker at an agricultural research institute
Here's a made-up example. Balwinder, now 47, began work in 2006 as a daily-wage field worker at an ICAR research institute near Karnal, tending experimental plots. He was paid a daily rate, sometimes through the institute and for some years through a labour contractor the institute engaged. Two other workers who joined in 2004 were regularised as Multi-Tasking Staff in 2018 after a tribunal order in their favour. Balwinder was not part of that case.
He collected bank credits, muster roll copies obtained under RTI and a letter from a scientist recording his work on a field trial. His representation, asking for the same treatment as the two regularised workers, was rejected with a single line quoting Umadevi. He filed an Original Application before the Chandigarh Bench, which covers Haryana.
The tribunal found he had done perennial work for many years but noted the gap of three years when he was on the contractor's rolls and that he had joined after the 2006 cut-off. It did not order regularisation. It directed the institute to pay him at the minimum of the MTS pay level from the date of the application, with dearness allowance, and to consider his case with age relaxation in the next recruitment to MTS posts. It also directed that he not be replaced by another daily-wage worker. Less than he wanted, but a monthly difference of several thousand rupees and protection from being dropped.
Stopped from work after years of service
The most urgent cases are those where a long-serving casual worker is suddenly told not to come, often orally. Act within days. Write to the head of office asking for the order in writing and the reason, and keep proof of delivery. Turning up for work and being turned away should also be recorded, even by a letter the same evening.
Courts have long held, since State of Haryana v. Piara Singh (1992), that an ad hoc or temporary worker should not be replaced by another ad hoc or temporary worker; he can be replaced only by a regularly selected person. If the office has dropped you and engaged someone else for the same work on the same terms, that is a strong ground for an interim order directing your re-engagement.
If the office was an 'industry' and you had worked continuously for a year, the protections against retrenchment under the Industrial Relations Code, 2020 may apply as well. The tribunal or the labour forum can be approached urgently for interim relief; waiting months while you look for other work weakens the case, because the urgency disappears.
Counting casual years for pension after regularisation
Workers regularised after years of casual service often find their pension calculated only from the date of regularisation. Under the 1993 scheme, half of the service with temporary status counts for retirement benefits after regularisation, and some departmental schemes and tribunal orders went further. Check what the order granting temporary status and the regularisation order say, and what your service book records.
A second question is which pension scheme applies. A worker with temporary status before 1 January 2004 who was regularised after that date may have been placed in the National Pension System. Whether such workers should be under the old pension scheme has been litigated with different results in different benches; check the current position for your department. The pages on old pension scheme claims and counting qualifying service explain both issues.
Raise this well before retirement, preferably as soon as you see the service book entry. Advocate B.K. Singh often finds that the records proving casual service were available at the office ten years earlier and were destroyed or misplaced by the time the worker retired.
Common mistakes casual and contract workers make
- Keeping no records. Many workers have nothing on paper after twenty years. Start keeping bank statements, letters and photographs today.
- Waiting for others' cases to finish. A judgment in favour of co-workers does not automatically extend to you. Departments often say it was limited to the applicants. Apply for parity promptly in writing.
- Claiming a permanent post when the record supports only wages. Asking for everything sometimes leads to getting nothing. Ask for what the facts support, and ask for the rest in the alternative.
- Choosing the wrong forum. A contractor's worker in the CAT, or a directly engaged worker in a labour forum with no claim to industrial relief, can lose years.
- Signing papers without reading them. Agencies sometimes ask workers to sign fresh 'appointment letters' with a new start date each year. Keep copies and note in writing that your service began earlier.
- Letting union leaders keep the only copy. Associations help, as the guide on a union or association filing a service case explains, but keep your own copies of everything filed.
Group A, B and C posts, and when there is no claim
Almost all casual labour claims concern posts at the level of Multi-Tasking Staff or skilled workers. Contractual engagement in higher posts, such as consultants, young professionals or contractual lecturers, rarely leads to regularisation, because those posts are filled by open recruitment through UPSC or SSC and the engagement terms say so plainly. Those workers can still claim fair treatment under their contract, but a case for a regular post is weak.
A claim is also unlikely where the engagement was for a scheme or project with a fixed end, where the worker was engaged for a few months in each year with long gaps, or where no regular post of that kind exists in the office at all. Telling you this at the start is better than letting you spend two years in a case that cannot succeed.
Where a claim does exist, delay is the enemy. Wage claims are continuing wrongs, but arrears are usually limited to about three years before filing, following Union of India v. Tarsem Singh (2008). Regularisation claims made after decades of silence are often refused for that reason alone.
Next steps
Put together your year-by-year sheet and whatever proof you have, even if it is only bank credits. Find out who regularised your co-workers and when. Then decide, with advice, whether your claim is for temporary status, wages, regularisation or protection from replacement, and which forum hears it. The steps for filing are on the page on filing an Original Application.
If you have worked for years on casual or contract terms in a central office and want someone to read your records and tell you plainly what can be claimed, contact Advocate B.K. Singh for advice or for updates on the current law.
Frequently asked questions
I have worked 15 years on daily wages in a central office. Will I become permanent?
Not automatically. Long service supports a claim, but regularisation depends on whether you were engaged against regular work and a sanctioned post, how you came in, and whether others like you were regularised. Where regularisation is not possible, wages at the minimum of the pay scale are often still available.
What is temporary status for casual labourers?
It is a status under the DoPT scheme of 1993 that gave casual workers wages linked to the regular pay scale, increments, pro rata leave and a path to regularisation. It applied only to workers in service when the scheme began in 1993 with one year of continuous service; railways and posts had their own schemes.
Does the Umadevi judgment mean casual workers can never be regularised?
No. It stops courts from regularising illegal backdoor entries, but it allowed a one-time regularisation of irregular appointments against sanctioned posts after ten years' service. Later Supreme Court decisions, including Jaggo in 2024, have said departments must not misuse it against long-serving workers.
I am paid by a contractor but work in a government office. Can I claim a government job?
Usually not, unless the contract is a sham and the department really controls and pays you. Your stronger claims are minimum wages, provident fund and ESI contributions and the principal employer's liability, through the central labour authorities and industrial tribunal.
Should a casual worker go to the CAT or the labour court?
Directly engaged workers of central departments and notified bodies usually go to the CAT for temporary status and regularisation. Termination and contractor disputes framed as industrial disputes go through central conciliation and the industrial tribunal. Take advice before filing, because the choice affects the relief you can get.
Can the office replace me with another daily-wage worker?
Courts have held that a temporary or ad hoc worker should be replaced only by a regularly selected person, not by another temporary worker. If you were dropped and someone else took the same work on the same terms, an urgent application for re-engagement can be made.
Will my casual service count for pension after I am regularised?
Under the 1993 scheme, half of the service rendered with temporary status counts for retirement benefits after regularisation. Other periods depend on the specific scheme and orders. Check your service book entries well before retirement.
My co-workers won their case. Do I get the same benefit?
Not automatically, because departments often limit orders to the applicants. Make a written representation asking for the same benefit, citing the order, and if refused, approach the same forum promptly on the ground of parity.