Telangana High Court orders regularisation of contract workers with over 10 years of service

The court also imposed a firm deadline to ensure prompt compliance, stating that the exercise shall be completed within three months from the date of receipt of a copy of the order.

In his order, Justice Rao stated that the petitioners were not merely engaged in temporary or intermittent work on contract vacancies but were working “on a contract basis against the sanctioned posts in the respondent Corporation.” The court noted that this “was not in dispute”.

The two consolidated petitions, dealing with the precarious employment status of workers engaged on a contract basis for over a decade, were filed against the State of Telangana, represented by its principal secretary of Animal Husbandry, Dairy-II Department, and the Telangana State Dairy Development Cooperative Federation Ltd, represented by its managing director.

The judge clarified the court’s rationale, making a strong and unequivocal statement on the employees’ entitlement after such prolonged service. “In view of the above observations, this court is of the considered view that the petitioners are working as contract employees against the sanctioned posts for more than 10 years. In the said circumstances, their services can be regularised,” he said.

Based on this finding, the respondent authorities have been directed to consider the case of the petitioners and proceed with the regularisation of their services.

The court specified that the regularization should take effect “with prospective effect, i.e., from the date of issue of orders of regularisation and appointment to the category.” This means the benefit of regularisation will apply moving forward from the date of the formal orders, rather than retroactively.

The judgment resulted in the disposal of both writ petitions, with all pending miscellaneous petitions being closed as a result of the final order.