Staff Reporter
Guwahati: The Gauhati High Court delivered a judgement recently disposing of a case in which 771 numbers of contractual employees of Assam State Transport Corporation (ASTC), the petitioners herein, challenged an order which released them from their contractual services in 2023, terming their appointments to be 'irregular'. The HC, however, ruled that the petitioners shall be taken back on duty, and they shall be allowed to continue till the regular appointments are made or the posts are abolished.
To arrive at the verdict, case laws of the Supreme Court were perused and referred to, which clearly deduce the established principle of law that an ad hoc employee cannot be replaced by another ad hoc employee. The ASTC had outsourced some of the posts through an agency on an ad hoc basis.
Delivering the judgement in a batch of petitions on the same subject, Justice Kardak Ete observed that, admittedly, the petitioners were appointed on a contractual basis in different posts without any advertisement, but tests and interviews were reflected in their appointment orders.
The authorities, having found that the appointments were not made by following the due process of selection, as no advertisement was issued on inquiry, took a decision to release those 771 employees, the petitioners herein, and accordingly released them by an impugned order. However, taking note of the acute shortage of manpower in the wake of the release of petitioners, the authorities decided to outsource the service from the private manpower agency.
Also, undisputedly, no notices were issued to the petitioners, as they may not be required, as their appointments were on a contract basis for a period of one year. But, one cannot brush aside the fact that they have been allowed to continue initially from their appointment in 2013 till the impugned orders were issued on May 30, 2023, releasing them from services.
Justice Ete also stated it to be true that no contract employee would have the right to continue in his/her service after expiry of the contract period; nevertheless, the petitioners, in his considered opinion, ought to have been allowed to continue till the posts are filled up on a regular basis.
More so, the petitioners are essentially seeking continuation in the service till the posts are filled up on a regular basis and to allow them to participate in the regular selection process by condoning their age if required, which this court found to be a fair and reasonable grievance by the petitioners.
In view of the details hereinabove, Justice Ete is of the considered view that the petitioners ought not to have been released, as their appointments appear to be irregular but not illegal, and there would be an acute shortage of manpower for the respondent ASTC.
"Therefore, the services of the petitioners are required to be allowed to continue till the posts are filled up on a regular basis or abolished," Justice Ete ruled. However, the petitioners shall not be entitled to any pecuniary benefits/back wages for the period they have not worked for, he ordered. The court also set aside the impugned orders dated May 30, 2023, issued by the Chief Personnel Officer, ASTC, Guwahati. The writ petition was disposed of accordingly.
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