Jodhpur: Rajasthan High Court has ruled that Class IV employees hired through placement agencies cannot be denied minimum pay scale applicable to their posts merely because they were not appointed through the regular recruitment process.Allowing two petitions filed by Tribal Area Development Department employees, the court directed state govt to grant them the minimum pay scale applicable to Class-IV employees. Govt must implement the directions within 60 days of receiving a certified copy of the order.A single-judge bench of Justice Kuldeep Mathur passed the order on petitions filed by Sunil Katara, a peon at Eklavya Model Residential School in Kushalgarh, Banswara, and Anil Kumar Pargi, employed as a watchman at the Tribal Area Development Department office in Banswara.The petitioners argued that they were performing duties against Class-IV posts in the department, similar to those performed by other employees appointed on a regular basis. However, they were being denied the minimum pay scale given to Class-IV employees. The department’s stand was that since their services had been hired through placement agencies and they had not undergone the regular recruitment process, they were not entitled to this benefit.The High Court, however, did not accept this argument. It referred to an earlier order dated April 8, 2026, wherein the court had directed govt to grant the minimum pay scale to a similarly placed employee despite his appointment through a placement agency.The court also noted that the department had not disputed the fact that the petitioners were working for it, establishing an employer-employee relationship.In view of the earlier ruling and the similar circumstances, the court allowed both petitions and directed the state govt to grant the petitioners the minimum pay scale applicable to Class-IV employees within 60 days of receiving the certified copy of the order.
