HC okays benefit for contract staff
Court rules state can provide 20% weightage
The Telangana High Court has made it clear that prescribing up to 20 per cent marks as weightage to contract service or service rendered on outsourcing basis while making regular recruitment in public employment is not excessive. It is within the powers of the employer to provide the weightage, the court ruled.
Having considered various aspects concerning regular recruitment in public employment, the full bench, comprising Chief Justice Raghavendra Singh Chauhan, Justice A. Rajashekar Reddy and Justice P. Naveen Rao, upheld the constitutional validity of Rule 31 of the Telangana State and Subordinate Service Rules, 1996, which enables and empowers the Governor to exercise the power of relaxation to lift any Rule in favor of a person or class of persons. The bench held that exercise of power in the circumstances is legally valid.
Hence, the power of relaxation of service rules can be exercised by the Governor in order to remove the restriction on computation of temporary service imposed by the Service Rules, and to enable the temporary employee to compute the temporary service as weightage in the process of regular recruitment.
The bench also clarified that if the Service Rules do not envisage assignment of marks for temporary service in regular recruitment, it is for the employer to assign
such weightage and it does not bestow any vested right upon a temporary employee to insist upon extension of weightage to temporary service rendered by him.
A series of petitions were filed before the Telangana High Court from since 2017, challenging non-apportion of weightage marks to temporary and outsourcing employees in the recruitment of public employment, like power utility companies, medical, health and agriculture departments. On the other hand, some petitions were filed challenging the apportion of
weightage marks up to 45 per cent to temporary employees. These petitions were heard separately by two different division benches of the High Court and their decisions were conflicting.
Hence, the specially constituted full bench heard the petitions and decided that as part of the selection process for direct recruitment, the employer has the power to apportion marks towards service rendered on a temporary basis. The marks, so apportioned, shall not be more than 20 out of a total of 100, or not more than 20 per cent.