CHANDIGARH: “The very essence of a welfare state is compromised when the instrumentalities of the state become a source of protracted litigation,” Punjab and Haryana HC observed recently, while reprimanding Punjab govt for its apathy in not absorbing a former worker of Anandpur Sahib Hydel Project for over three decades.Justice Harpreet Singh Brar ordered the state govt to pay within three months Rs 5 lakh compensation to the petitioner, nearly 80 now, noting that: “The state shoulders the profound responsibility of fostering justice and equity; it should be a catalyst for the resolution of disputes, not the cause of their proliferation.”Pulling up the state for ignoring binding directions issued in 1989 in an SC judgment in the ‘Mehanga Ram and others versus State of Punjab’ case and reaffirmed through Punjab advocate general’s 1995 undertaking before apex court, HC said forcing similarly situated employees to repeatedly litigate for identical relief was “the very definition of arbitrariness” barred under Constitution. “The principle that the state must act as a ‘model employer’ is not a mere platitude but a constitutional mandate that informs its dealings with its employees,” HC observed.
