Prayagraj (UP), March 23 The Allahabad High Court has criticised the practice of public employers bypassing regular recruitment by continuously engaging staff through outsourcing agencies.
Justice Vikram D Chauhan, while allowing a petition filed by Kafi Ahmed Khan, said that such a system provides "ample scope for exploitation and unfairness."
The court directed the Bareilly Municipal Corporation to consider regularising Khan, who has been working as a computer operator on an outsourced basis for over 13 years.
"Continuous long-term employment by an employer through outsourcing/daily wages, where the duties are of an indispensable nature, may indicate exploitative employment practices, particularly when the work in the department is performed by human resources supplied by an outsourcing agency and thereby stopping or ignoring the regular mode of appointment on the sanctioned post," the court observed.
In 2019, the high court disposed of a writ plea filed by Khan for regularisation with a direction to the authorities to consider his claim.
However, the Nagar Ayukta flatly rejected his claim in December 2020.
The authority cited a February 2016 government order, which stipulated that regularisation was only legally permissible for daily wage employees appointed on or before December 31, 2001.
Khan's counsel primarily relied on the Supreme Court's 2024 judgment in Jaggo vs Union of India 2024, wherein the top court criticised the practice of government institutions engaging workers temporarily for a prolonged period, infringing various labour rights.
It was also contended that the long-standing employment of the petitioner indicated that the work is of a permanent nature, and the denial of regularisation of the petitioner despite long-standing employment of more than 13 years was arbitrary.
The bench set aside the impugned order passed by the Bareilly Nagar Nigam commissioner and directed that the claim for regularisation of the petitioner be considered within four months.