AHMEDABAD: In an important judgment that could benefit 1.06 lakh women in Gujarat and over 24 lakh women across the country, the Gujarat high court has ruled that anganwadi workers (AWWs) and anganwadi helpers (AWHs) are entitled to be absorbed as "permanent employees holding civil posts" in the central or the state govts. Justice Nikhil Kariel directed the Centre and the state govt to jointly formulate a policy for the absorption of AWWs and AWHs in govt services and to confer the consequential benefit of regularisation of their jobs under the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), a centrally sponsored scheme.
Their absorption in the govt service in Gujarat was ordered under the Gujarat Civil Services (Classification and Recruitment) (General) Rules, 1967. The HC further ordered the consideration of the salary of AWWs and AWHs in the minimum pay scale as available to Class 3 and Class 4 posts, respectively. The govt was also ordered to pay arrears, and in the case of the petitioners, the cut-off date will be three years preceding the date of filing the petitions, which was in 2015.
This is because the women working in these positions are paid an honorarium, Rs 10,000 to AWWs and Rs 5,500 to AWHs, which is much less than a Class 4 employee working in such a category for four hours a day. The HC in its order directed the Centre and the state govt to complete the exercise of forming the policy within six months from the date of uploading the judgment on the HC's portal,.
