Cuttack: Orissa high court has quashed an Odisha govt decision that limited regular service of junior engineers appointed in district rural development agencies (DRDAs) to the date of their absorption into the panchayati raj department cadre.While considering the petition of 17 junior engineers, Justice R K Pattanaik, in a judgment passed on Aug 24 and uploaded on Wednesday, directed the state govt to reckon the engineers’ service from their respective dates of appointment.The petitioners were appointed as junior engineers between 1996 and 2000 from a panel of diploma engineers approved by the govt. Though they were posted in DRDAs and at the block level, their appointments were made pursuant to govt orders. They were later absorbed into the diploma engineering cadre (civil) of the panchayati raj and drinking water department with effect from Aug 20, 2015.The dispute arose after the govt, through a resolution dated Aug 20, 2015, decided that their regular service would be counted only from the date of absorption.The engineers challenged the decision, seeking recognition of their initial appointment dates for service benefits, including pension, gratuity and GPF coverage. Senior advocate Manoj Kumar Mishra argued on behalf of the petitioners, while additional standing counsel S K Brahma represented the state.“The petitioners have joined as junior engineers selected from a panel of diploma engineers based on explicit govt orders,” Justice Pattanaik observed, terming Para 3 of the 2015 government resolution, which restricted the reckoning of service to the date of absorption, “arbitrary” and “illegal and unconstitutional” and quashing it.Rejecting the contention of the state govt that the service conditions of the petitioner were governed by DRDA regulations, Justice Pattanaik ruled that their service conditions were governed by the applicable govt service rules rather than the regulations of individual DRDAs.The judge, however, clarified that the benefit would be *notional*, with the past service to be counted for pension and other pensionary benefits.The govt was asked to implement the directions preferably within eight weeks.The high court said their seniority, payscale and promotional avenues were linked to the state’s engineering cadre and Odisha Diploma Engineers Service Rules framed under Article 309 of the Constitution.It further held that merely because the engineers had initially served in DRDAs, their service could not be treated as separate from the state’s engineering establishment.