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Supreme Court of India· 10 March 2026

What is the effect of the second proviso to Section 5 of the Jammu and Kashmir Civil Services (Special Provisions) Act, 2010 on an appointee who had not completed seven years of service on the appointed day?

ABHISHEK SHARMA v. THE STATE OF JAMMU AND KASHMIR & ORS
2026 INSC 220 · SLP (C) No.5108 of 2023
Coram: Vikram Nath; Sandeep Mehta
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Answer

He continues in service until completion of seven years and thereafter becomes entitled to regularisation. The proviso is beneficial in tenor and must receive a purposive interpretation; a construction defeating the protection of employees who later complete the qualifying service period is constitutionally unsustainable.

Headnote

Jammu and Kashmir Civil Services (Special Provisions) Act, 2010 — s.3(b) — s.5 — SRO No. 384 of 2009 — Constitution of India — Art.14 — Art.16 — Regularisation of service — Academic arrangement basis — Reasonable classification — Intelligible differentia — Model employer — Constitution of India — Art.14 — Classification of employees — Nomenclature not determinative — Held: Where appointees on an academic arrangement basis discharge duties, tenure and conditions of service identical to ad hoc, contractual or consolidated appointees, they are similarly situated. Denial of equal treatment resting only on the nomenclature of the engagement is impermissible under Article 14. (¶12) Jammu and Kashmir Civil Services (Special Provisions) Act, 2010 — s.3(b) — Exclusion of academic arrangement appointees — Held further: The exclusion in Section 3(b) lacks an intelligible differentia and bears no rational nexus with the object of regularising long-standing irregular appointments. It results in invidious discrimination and is unconstitutional and violative of Article 14. (¶12, 13) Jammu and Kashmir Civil Services (Special Provisions) Act, 2010 — s.5 — Second proviso — Qualifying seven years of service — Held further: Once the conditions in Section 5(i) to (v) stand satisfied, the nature of the initial engagement ceases to have any legal relevance. The second proviso is a beneficial provision and must receive purposive interpretation, protecting employees who complete the qualifying service period. (¶12) Constitution of India — Art.14 — Art.16 — State as model employer — Repackaging of contractual engagement — Held further: The State, as a model employer, cannot repackage a substantially similar mode of engagement under a new nomenclature and then deny regularisation. Section 3(b) declared unconstitutional; the State directed to consider the appellants under Section 5. Appeals allowed. (¶13)

In the Court's own words
Paragraph 10At the very threshold, we find ourselves unable to concur with the reasoning adopted by both the courts below. The High Court failed to advert to the correct position of law. Once a specific challenge was mounted by the present appellants to the vires of the 2010 Act, on the ground that the same infringed the fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution, it was incumbent upon the High Court to undertake a substantive examination as to whether the impugned provisions satisfied the constitutional threshold. Instead, the provisions were upheld as they stood, without any meaningful scrutiny or analysis as to their compatibility with the constitutional scheme. It is this perfunctory and truncated approach adopted by the courts below that has necessitated our examination of the validity of the challenge raised before us. 10.1. This Court, vide order dated 23rd June, 2023, passed in Civil Appeal arising out of SLP (C) No. 12238 of 2023, directed that status quo be maintained with respect to the appellants and all other similarly placed employees. Consequently, the appellants have continued in the service of the respondent-State throughout the pendency of the present lis. 10.2. The appellants were appointed during the period between 2011 and 2013 under SRO No. 384. The respondent-State enacted the 2010 Act, which provided for the regularisation of employees appointed on an ad hoc, contractual or consolidated basis. The relevant provisions of the said enactment, insofar as they bear upon the controversy in question, are extracted hereinbelow: -
Acts & Sections
s.3(b) Jammu and Kashmir Civil Services (Special Provisions) Act, 2010s.5 Jammu and Kashmir Civil Services (Special Provisions) Act, 2010Art.14 Constitution of IndiaArt.16 Constitution of IndiaSRO No. 384 of 2009 (Jammu and Kashmir Medical and Dental Education (Appointment on Academic Arrangement Basis) Rules, 2009)

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Also decided in this judgment
Under the Jammu and Kashmir Civil Services (Special Provisions) Act, 2010, can employees appointed on an academic arrangement basis be denied regularisation while ad hoc, contractual and consolidated appointees are granted it?What two conditions must a classification satisfy to survive the equality mandate of Article 14 of the Constitution?On what grounds alone can a court invalidate a law enacted by Parliament or a State Legislature?When the vires of a statute is specifically challenged, may a High Court uphold the provision without examining its constitutional validity?Once the conditions in Section 5(i) to (v) of the Jammu and Kashmir Civil Services (Special Provisions) Act, 2010 are satisfied, does the nature of the initial engagement still matter?Does the expectation that the State act as a model employer limit its power to create a new category of engagement by nomenclature?
Plain-language answer prepared by the LexStreak Editorial Desk — verify against the judgment. Source: Supreme Court of India. Corrections