India, Sept. 8 -- In the Dharam Singh v. State of UP Case, the Supreme Court of India recently noted that the government is an employer under the Constitution rather than merely a market player, where an employer alone represents competition and profit motives. The conditions of that kind of work are determined by contracts, labour supply and demand, and corporate requirements rather than by constitutional duties. This observation was made in the context of criticising the long-term use of temporary or daily-wage workers for permanent tasks, since the state should be held to a higher standard of justice and dignity than a private enterprise.

The Uttar Pradesh government was ordered by the court in the Dharam Singh case to regularise the ...