High Court Slams Kolkata Municipal Corporation For Engaging Contractual Employees To Permanent Posts, Restrains Their Termination As One Time Measure
Live LawThe Calcutta High Court has pulled up the Kolkata Municipal Corporation for its practice of engaging contractual workers to carry out the tasks of permanent employees against the settled position of law in various rules of recruitment, as well as precedents laid down by the Supreme Court from time to time. However, we direct that the present services of the appellants on contractual basis cannot be terminated till they reach the age of 60 years respectively without formulating some reasonable social security scheme for their benefit…We also make it clear that this judgment should not be treated as a precedent.” Brief facts of the case: The appeal arose against an order of a Single-judge who refused the appellants' prayer of regularisation of service, holding that their appointment was improper and, in any case, only as contractual workers, which could not be made permanent. Observations of the Court: Perplexed by the submissions of the KMC, since their actions of appointing the appellants as contractual workers, in 2010, itself went against the ratio in Umadevi, which directed that only regular recruitment should take place against vacant government posts from 2006, the Bench remarked: “.the appellants were called upon to attend walk-in-interview in the year 2010…the question is when the Hon’ble Supreme Court by its decision in Uma Devi delivered in 2006, has clearly directed the State Governments and its instrumentalities that they should ensure that regular recruitments are undertaken to fill up vacant sanctioned posts where temporary employees are being employed…could KMC bypass such direction in the year 2010?" The approach of the KMC is inhumane and cannot be endorsed in a welfare State…in my view if the Kolkata Municipal Corporation does not follow its own Recruitment Rules and also the direction of the Hon’ble Supreme Court, we cannot make the appellants scapegoat for the wrongful acts of the Corporation…It is expected that a Court of law should not allow the KMC, a model employer, to become an unscrupulous employer…” Coram: Justice Arijit Banerjee and Justice Apurba Sinha Ray Case: Kausik Ghosh & Ors.
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