Regularisation of Services: Central Administrative Tribunal dismisses 7 Forest Department employees' plea

Ramkrishan Upadhyay

Chandigarh, February 26

In one of the significant judgments, the Chandigarh Bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) has dismissed the pleas for regularisation of services of seven contractual employees of the Department of Forest and Wildlife, Chandigarh, after finding that their appointments were not made as per the recruitment rules.

The court, in the order, said since the department had now completed the regular process of recruitment, applicants could not be allowed to continue further in terms of their appointment letter wherein it was clearly stipulated that their appointment was purely on a contract basis for a limited period or till such time the regular appointment was made.

Seven employees – Prabhu Nath Shahi, Ajay Kumar, Jitendera Kumar, Sultan Singh Ram, Chander Kumar, Rajinder Singh and Ashok Kumar – working as forester and forest guard on contract approached the CAT for the regularisation of their services.

The applicants claimed that they were former servicemen and were appointed on the posts pursuant to advertisements issued by the Chief Conservator of Forests, Chandigarh, from 2013 to 2015. They were issued appointment letters on a contract basis, which was extended from time to time.

They claimed that the department had issued advertisements as per the statutory recruitment rules. They said their appointments had been made against sanctioned posts in consonance with the statutory Rules. These could not be termed as contractual appointments. By making all these assertions, the applicants prayed for quashing of an order dated February 5, 2020, whereby their representations had been rejected by the respondents. The applicants have also prayed for the grant of a declaration to the effect that the word “contract” mentioned in their appointment letters was misnomer and they be declared to have been appointed as foresters/forest guards as per the Rules from their initial dates of appointment. They also prayed that their services be regularised in terms of guidelines.

Counsels Naman Jain and GS Sandhu, appearing on behalf of the department, claimed that these employees could not be regularised as their appointment was made purely on a contractual basis as a stopgap arrangement. The department also said neither the written test nor any physical test for selection of applicants was conducted. They were selected and recruited as forest guards/foresters on the basis of an interview.

After hearing the arguments and examining the records, the CAT Bench, comprising Suresh Kumar Monga and Rakesh Kumar Gupta, dismissed their applications.

The Bench said the respondents (Forest Department), while initiating the process of recruitment by way of issuance of a notice for walk-in-interview, had acted as per their whims and fancies only. Such a process of recruitment, being contrary to the provisions of Articles 14 and 16 of the Indian Constitution could not have been initiated. In view of this, no such declaration could be granted that the words “contractual appointment” mentioned in their appointment orders were misnomer.

The court also made the observation for making the appointments against rules.

“We leave it to the appropriate competent authority to look into the issue and take appropriate action in its wisdom and ensure that in future no such actions are repeated by the authorities concerned in the respondent department in the matter of public appointment,” says the order.