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Monday, October 9, 2017

No absolute right to seek Regularisation of Contract Workers - says Kar HC

Contractual workers do not have a right to seek regularisation or absorption, the High Court has said, dismissing the petition by 205 taluk nodal officers of the Rajiv Gandhi Rural Housing Corporation Limited, a company under the Housing Department of Karnataka.

In November 2015, the Corporation issued relieving letters to the existing nodal officers and a new order of contract. These were challenged by the officers who were relieved from service.

Justice Raghvendra S Chauhan gave his judgement recently. The question answered by the judgement was whether the TNOs "can claim the right to be absorbed or regularised in the service of the corporation or not?".

These TNOs were appointed on contractual basis for a period of two years from 2011. They continued in service for six years and approached the court when the corporation decided to review the works of TNOs and enter into a fresh contract by imposing fresh conditions. The existing TNOs were to be relieved before this process.

Dismissing the petition, the HC said,

"From day one, they were very well aware of the fact that their appointment was a temporary one; with the efflux of time, the appointment would come to an end. Merely because their services were continued for a further period of six years, would not, and does not, change the nature of their appointment from temporary appointment to quasi-permanent one. Such continuation neither creates a legitimate expectation of being absorbed or regularised by the government, nor bestows equity in their favour."

Source:  http://bangaloremirror.indiatimes.com/bangalore/others/Contract-workers-need-not-be-regularised-Karnataka-High-Court/articleshow/60987389.cms