Bombay HC for Regularisation of Long Term Contractual Doctors & Health Staff
The petitioners are in contractual employment of respondent No.1 – Vasai Virar Municipal Corporation (for short ‘VVMC’) for very long periods, working on different posts which include posts of Medical Officer, para-medical staff, administrative staff etc; in hospitals, urban primary health centre, mother & child care centre, clinics and medical health units, covid health centre and care centres. The said advertisements also followed the reservation policy in respect of which a reservation roster was applied. The petitioners accordingly joined their respective employment.
The petitioners were appointed in pursuance of the advertisement and undergoing an independent selection process.
The Standing Committee, on each occasion, considered the proposals and upon finding that the services of the petitioners fell within the emergency services, and accordingly, sanctioned renewal of the petitioners’ appointment on the posts held by them, considering the nature of the services rendered by the petitioners. This however, was done by giving the petitioners a one day break / technical break in service, just to show that the petitioners were not allowed to continue as regular employees or to avoid any further consequences with respect to a claim of permanency or regularization in their service with the VVMC by the petitioners.
in fact, the petitioners, on the day of such one day break (technical break), had reported for duties, which, according to the petitioners, made their services continuous and uninterrupted. It is contended that the contractual appointments of the petitioners till date are periodically revised by the VVMC by their respective orders. It is the petitioners’ case that insofar as the posts held by them are concerned, they have been working for more than 8 to 11 years,
where the work performed is perennial in nature and fundamental to the functioning of the establishment, the employer cannot indefinitely continue such employees on temporary terms and thereafter invoke the judgment in Umadevi (supra) to defeat their legitimate claim. The Court reiterated that Umadevi (supra) distinguishes illegal appointments from irregular appointments and cannot be used to perpetuate exploitative employment practices. In the present case, the petitioners have continuously performed indispensable medical and public health functions in the respondent Corporation for several years after being appointed through a transparent selection process. Their appointments are not illegal or back-door appointments, and the perennial nature of their duties clearly demonstrates that the respondents cannot deny regularization merely on the basis that their appointments were contractual, moreover by imposing a examination as impugned.
The reliefs as prayed for in these petitions inter alia are to the effect that the VVMC be directed to absorb and regularize the petitioners’ services.
In the present proceedings, the petitioners have continuously discharged perennial and indispensable public health duties after being appointed through a duly constituted selection process, hence, the respondents cannot rely upon the contractual nature of their appointments to deny consideration for regularization.
Judgment dated of the High Court of Bombay in Writ Petition No.4079 of 2021 of Dr. Bhakti Deepak Chaudhary and others Vs. Vasai Virar City Municipal Corporation and another with connected writ petitions.
