Contractual staff requires 10 yrs of service to be regularized
Thiruvananthapuram: The supreme court's five-member constitutional bench had pronounced the verdict in Umadevi case on April 10, 2006, which the government considers as a reference for regularization of contractual staff. The Kerala high court also ordered that actions related to making the staff permanent should be taken only on the basis of the verdict.
According to the verdict, those who were appointed temporarily should have all the eligibilities of the post to be regularized. Appointment should be made in recognised posts only. Also the employee should have a service of 10 years which should not be based on any court verdict.
Only those who were appointed prior to April 10, 1996, can demand regularization on the basis of the supreme court verdict. Not all employees who complete 10 years of service can be appointed on the basis of Uma Devi case verdict. The court granted only one chance to regularize the employees with 10 years of service, while considering the case.
The verdict also states not to regularize appointments based on this verdict in the same way. The law department that checked the verdict informed the same to the state government. The additional chief secretary had handed over a copy of the legal advice to various departments.
The government had made it clear in the assembly in June 2019 that the contract staff cannot be made permanent. This was clarified by health minister K K Shailaja in reply to a submission regarding the appointment of staff.
Though a list of 29 employees were handed over to the finance department for regularization, it was informed that the staff cannot be regularized on the basis of the Uma Devi case verdict in 2006.
The minister added that the court verdict cannot be disobeyed as it may invite case of contempt of court. However, the state government seems to have taken an opposite stand when their tenure is about to end. Now they claim that the contractual staff can be regularized on humanitarian basis.