The action of the State government and the Bangalore University in refusing to regularise service of around 50 Group-D employees solely citing financial burden of ₹1.36 crore for regularisation amounts to exploitation of their labour for about 20-24 years as they are otherwise eligible for regularisation of services as per the law, observed the High Court of Karnataka.
While directing the Government to consider the varsity’s proposal for regularisation of these employees, the Court also directed the varsity not to shirk its responsibility to consider the cases of the petitioner-employees for regularisation if the Government leaves it to the discretion of the former.
Justice M. Nagaprasanna passed the order while allowing the petitions filed by Hanumantharayappa V and others.
However, the Court said the petitioners are not entitled for any salary arrears in case of regularisation of their services but they are entitled to count service from after completion of 10 years from the date of their first appointment on temporary basis, and related terminal benefits.
The petitioners, who are now aged between 43 and 57 years, were appointed in various departments of the varsity between the years 1996 and 2000 on temporary basis against the vacant posts and had continuous service since then to consider them for regularisation as per the norms laid down by the apex court.
The petitioners had questioned the State government’s 2016 order of rejecting the recommendations made by the varsity for their regularisation.
The Court noted that the varsity had communicated to the Government eight times between 2008 and 2019 for regularising their services and the Government had said it cannot grant additional financial support of ₹1.36 for this purpose.
“If the claim of the petitioners for regularisation is not considered, it would be leaving such employees in the lurch after having extracted work from them for close to 24 years. The services of these petitioners have been utilised in their energetic youth, have travelled this far and are at this age, if they are not now considered for regularization, it would amount to exploitation of such labour...,” the Court observed.
“The buoyancy of hope that the petitioners have all along carried with them should not again be turned by the respondents into a fatigue of despair,” the Court said while stating that not considering them for regularisation would be an arbitrary action as similarly placed employees were regularised against the vacant posts. The varsity had said that it had 197 vacant posts in Group-D category.
