Telangana High Court strikes down GO 16, rules regularization of contract employees unconstitutional

The High Court comprising Justice Sujoy Paul And Justice Namavarapu Rajeshwar Rao has struck down Government Order (GO) 16, which aimed to regularize thousands of contract employees in the state’s education and health sectors.

By Legal Correspondent

Hyderabad: A two judge bench of the Telangana High Court comprising Justice Sujoy Paul And Justice Namavarapu Rajeshwar Rao has struck down Government Order (GO) 16, which aimed to regularize thousands of contract employees in the state’s education and health sectors. The petitioners, a group of highly qualified unemployed youth, challenged the government’s move, arguing that the regularization process violated statutory recruitment rules.

---

The petitioners, including postgraduates, a Ph.D. holder, and several SET and NET-qualified individuals, contended that they had a legitimate expectation of being considered for permanent government posts such as Junior Lecturers, Assistant Professors, and Degree Lecturers. They argued that the appointments should have followed a transparent recruitment process, including public advertisements and a selection procedure, as required by the Education Service Rules.

The government, however, had resorted to contractual appointments through the College Development Committee, bypassing the standard recruitment process. The petitioners claimed that these appointments, made without proper advertisements or transparent selection, violated constitutional and statutory rules.

The court found that Section 10-A of the Telangana Education Act, which enabled the regularization of contract employees, was unconstitutional. It held that the section was not a valid exercise of power under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act, 2014, and that the government had circumvented fair recruitment procedures. The court also ruled that the regularization of contractual employees was against public policy, as it was done without following transparent and equitable procedures.

While the court declared Section 10-A ultra vires, it clarified that the contractual employees already regularized would not be terminated. However, the court directed that future recruitment for government posts should be conducted in accordance with the law, ensuring transparency and fairness in the process.

---

2. The Telangana High Court has directed the State Cooperative Election Authority to conduct elections for the Managing Committee of M/s Journalists Cooperative Housing Society Ltd. within the next two months. The decision came from a two-judge bench comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice J. Sreenivas Rao, following a series of legal disputes over the eligibility of voters and membership rolls. The case stems from writ petitions filed by P. Janga Reddy and 237 others, who sought the inclusion of their names and those of other members admitted between 2002 and 2020 in the voters list. The petitioners argued that they had completed the mandatory one-year membership period, making them eligible to vote in the election. The Society’s Admission Register listed 2,554 members, but a report from a Three-Member Committee flagged 890 of these admissions as violating the directives of the Commissioner for Cooperation and Registrar of Cooperative Societies. The committee also identified 1,135 members as ineligible based on non-compliance with Section 4(2) of the Cooperative Societies Act, 1964. While the petitioners contested their exclusion from the voters list, arguing that they had voted in past elections and held positions on the Managing Committee, the respondents claimed that the petitioners’ admissions were illegal, as they did not meet the criteria under the Act. Earlier, a single judge of the High Court directed the State Cooperative Election Authority to finalize the voters list and initiate elections within four months, without considering the Three-Member Committee’s report. However, after reviewing the case, the bench modified the order, annulling the direction to finalize the voters list without the committee’s input, while still ordering the elections within two months.