Shimla, Aug. 21 -- The Himachal Pradesh High Court has dismissed a State government appeal challenging the grant of work-charge status to a Class-IV employee and imposed costs of Rs.25,000 on the government for pursuing litigation in a matter already covered by an established judicial precedent.

A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice G.S. Sandhawalia and Justice Bipin Chander Negi dismissed the Letters Patent Appeal (LPA) filed by the State against an earlier single-bench judgment in favour of Ram Gopal. The court directed that the costs be paid directly to the employee.

Gopal was initially engaged as a daily-wage Class-IV worker in 1993 under the Integrated Watershed Development Project (IWDP), Kandi, and subsequently served under v...