Relief for contract employees; Partial permission granted for recruitment process

Lokmat News Network

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: The Aurangabad Bench of the Bombay High Court has issued a significant interim order in the matter of employees working on contract under Maharashtra Animal and Fishery Sciences University.

Although the court has permitted the university to proceed with the new recruitment process for 175 posts, the bench comprising Justice Vibha Kankanwadi and Justice Hiten S. Venegaonkar has clearly directed that the posts currently held by the petitioners must be excluded.

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What are the Petitions?

The petitioners have been working on contract in various colleges since 2011. Their contracts have been extended from time to time, and they have requested permanent appointment (regularisation). They have also objected to the university's advertisement for 175 posts in Groups B, C, and D. The petitioners' lawyers had cited various Supreme Court judgments and requested a stay on this recruitment process.

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Respondents' Arguments

On behalf of the State Government and the University, it was stated that issuing orders for contract extensions has been stopped since 2019. Instead, services are being obtained through the 'outsourcing' method as per government policy. Therefore, the respondents contend that the petitioners have no right to regularisation.

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HC directives

The bench directed the Associate Deans of the concerned colleges to submit a detailed affidavit within three weeks. Permission was granted to continue the recruitment process; however, the bench made it clear that excluding the petitioners' posts would remain mandatory. The next hearing will be held on May 7. Adv. Balaji Yenage and adv N P Patil Jamalpurkar argued on behalf of the petitioners.