Cuttack: Orissa high court has brought the curtain down on a legal battle spanning 27 years by directing the State Bank of India (SBI), to pay Rs 20 lakh as lumpsum compensation to each of two daily-wage sweepers instead of granting them regularisation of service.Mayadhar Nayak and Baina Nayak filed appeals challenging a single judge’s June 20, 2025, order dismissing a plea to regularise their services. Both were engaged as daily-wage sub-menial staff, or sweepers, of the govt treasury branch of SBI in Bhubaneswar since 1995.Before delivering the verdict on June 23, the division bench comprising Justices Krishna S Dixit and Chittaranjan Dash explored the possibility of a negotiated settlement. SBI offered Rs 5 lakh each to the workers, but they declined the proposal. During a personal interaction with the judges in Odia, the appellants said they would be satisfied with Rs 25 lakh each. Advocate Rajib Rath represented the appellants, while senior advocate S P Mishra argued on SBI’s behalf. The web copy of the judgement was released on June 25.The bench found neither figure acceptable. Calling the bank’s offer “too frugal to be mentioned, when bread is costlier than blood,” the judges observed that the workers had “given their sweat & blood” to the institution for nearly three decades. The judges also took note of their advancing age, with about 10 more years left for their superannuation, modest educational qualifications and social background, observing that they were unlikely to secure alternative employment “in the AI era”. Rejecting the demand for Rs 25 lakh each as excessive, the court held that “a lump sum award of Rs 20 lakh each would do complete justice to both the sides”. It added that directing regularisation at this stage would have imposed a greater financial burden on the bank than payment of compensation.The court directed SBI to release the compensation within eight weeks, failing which interest at 1% per month for the first month and 2% thereafter would be payable. It further said that if the delay was attributable to officials, the interest burden could be recovered personally from them.The judges noted that the appellants approached the high court multiple times since 1999 seeking regularisation along with service benefits and obtained favourable orders in 2007 and 2008 directing SBI to pay them minimum wages and continue their engagement as long as work was available. “The said orders effectively did not grant relief of regularisation or unconditional appointment,” the bench observed.Accordingly, the fresh claim for regularisation by the appellants, who rendered almost 30 years of “spotless service”, the bench said, was barred by the principle of *res judicata* (a matter already judged).Clarifying the limited scope of the ruling, the bench said the order was passed in the “peculiar facts and circumstances” of the case and “shall not be treated as a binding precedent or a Rule of Parity”.
