New Delhi, January 27:
In a significant ruling
reinforcing the sanctity of service regularisation orders and judicial
finality, the Delhi High Court has dismissed an intra-court appeal filed by the
Netaji Subhas University of Technology (NSUT), holding the university guilty of
unlawfully denying retiral benefits to an employee whose services had been
regularised more than a decade earlier. The Court imposed exemplary costs of ₹2
lakh on the university for what it described as an “apathetic” and
“lackadaisical” approach towards a binding court order.
A Division Bench
comprising Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia
upheld the judgment of a Single Judge which had quashed NSUT’s Office Order dated
December 7, 2021, and directed the university to treat Dhruw Kant Jha, a
retired employee, as a regular employee in terms of an earlier regularisation
order dated May 12, 2014.
Core Issue:
Regularisation of Service Attained Finality in 2014
The case centred around
the regularisation of service of the respondent, who joined the
institution in 1988 and served continuously for over 33 years. Although
initially appointed on an ad-hoc basis, his services were formally
regularised by NSUT itself on May 12, 2014, along with 40 other employees.
Based on this
regularisation order, a writ petition pending before the High Court was
disposed of in September 2014, with the regularisation order expressly taken on
record. Importantly, NSUT did not object at that stage, nor did it
challenge the 2014 judicial order, allowing it to attain finality and
binding force.
Despite this, when the
employee superannuated in January 2022, the university issued an office order
treating him as if his regularisation was still pending and withheld his
retirement benefits, including gratuity and leave encashment.
University’s
Defence Rejected as “Misconceived”
In appeal, NSUT argued
that the 2014 regularisation order was subject to ratification by its Board of
Governors and therefore could not confer service benefits. The High Court
categorically rejected this contention, holding that once the regularisation order
had merged with a judicial order passed in 2014, it was not open to the
university to resile from it after more than 11 years.
The Bench observed that
the university had never disclosed any such conditionality before the
Court in 2014 and had allowed the order to become final. It further held that
administrative indecision or internal approvals cannot be used as an excuse to
defeat vested service rights.
Strong Judicial
Censure for Denial of Retiral Dues
The Court came down
heavily on NSUT for dragging a retired employee into prolonged litigation even
after his superannuation, noting that the employee had devoted the “best years
of his life” to the institution.
Calling the conduct of
the university a “complete disregard of judicial orders”, the Court
dismissed the appeal both on the ground of inordinate delay and on
merits, and imposed exemplary costs of ₹2,00,000, directing that:
- ₹1,00,000 be paid to the
employee,
- ₹50,000 to the Delhi High
Court Bar Clerks’ Association, and
- ₹50,000 to the Delhi High
Court Legal Services Committee.
Representation
The employee-respondent
was represented by Anuj Aggarwal, Advocate, assisted by his team. The
Court recorded the submissions advanced on behalf of the employee emphasising
that the dispute was not merely about retiral benefits, but about the binding
nature of a long-settled regularisation of service, which the employer was
attempting to reopen after a decade.
Broader
Significance
The judgment reiterates
an important principle in service jurisprudence: once regularisation is
granted and affirmed by a judicial order, it cannot be undone indirectly by
administrative delay or internal procedural objections. The ruling is
expected to have wider implications for public institutions dealing with
long-pending regularisation and retiral benefit claims.
[Netaji Subhas
University of Technology (Formerly Known as Netaji Subhas Institute of
Technology) Vs. Sh. Dhruwkant Jha & Ors., LPA No. 37/2026, Delhi High
Court, Division Bench, Decided on 27.01.2026]
https://advocateanujaggarwal.com/home.php
Anuj Aggarwal
Advocate
K-17, 2nd Floor, Jangpura Extension,
New Delhi - 110014
483, Block-2, Lawyers Chambers,
Delhi High Court, New Delhi-110003
Mobile – 9891403206
Landline – 011 - 35554905
Email – anujaggarwal1984@gmail.com
