Central Employees Do Not Have The Right To Work From Home, Big Decision Of Delhi HC In View Of GRAP

Jagran correspondent, New Delhi. The Delhi High Court has clarified that the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) is only a regulatory mechanism designed to control air pollution and does not confer any statutory right to work from home to central government employees.

The court rejected the petition of a central employee and refused to give relief of work from home. A bench of Justice Sachin Dutta said that the GRAP instructions issued by the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) should be strictly followed, but these cannot be seen as personal service rights of the employees, especially when they are contrary to the existing service conditions.

This case was related to a petition filed by an employee posted on the post of Scientist-E working in the Center for Development of Telematics (C-DOT). The petitioner had alleged that construction and demolition work was going on in his office premises despite GRP rules, due to which the air quality inside the office became extremely poor and he suffered respiratory problems.

In the petition, the employee had sought directions from the court for immediate compliance of GRAP orders, inspection of office premises, permission for work from home and treating the period of absence as on duty. However, the court rejected all these demands.

The court said that the arrangements related to Work From Home in GRAP only give discretion to the Central Government, it is not a mandatory instruction. Further, the court also noted that the GRAP Stage-3 under which measures like work from home were envisaged, has already been withdrawn by the CAQM before 26 November 2025.

Also read- CAQM angry with Delhi government on poisonous air of the capital, Commission also warned Haryana-UP and Rajasthan