Daily wage workers in Government have no right to be permanently absorbed- land mark Supreme Court judgement
You must have seen a group of very active, obedient, humble, dynamic, ready- to –obey- any- command workers in the government offices. They are the contingent employees hired on a daily basis. The Government virtually runs because of them. The government driver has rights and can refuse to drop the Secretary to the office, the peon can sit in a corner and have his beedi, not bothering to work, the typist can refuse to type more than three pages a day, but still the government machinery runs – Its not a miracle but it is the daily wage contingent who ensures that the wheels of governance are in motion. Peons, drivers, data entry operators and all kinds of lower levels of employees in several departments are on a daily wage basis. Some daily wage workers continue for years and decades, still without any job guarantee, without any perks and whither away without any retirement benefits. Sometimes they are simply thrown out. And then they approach the courts. The High Courts by and large were very sympathetic towards them and in many cases they secured beneficial orders.
But then can government jobs be distributed like this? And can it be allowed through the back door instead of a regular selection? While every body has sympathy for the daily wager and wants him to be given a permanent job, nobody thinks about the other citizens who were eligible to apply for these jobs if there was a proper selection. Whose interests are to be protected? One who has already put in a step or one who could have but did not know about it?
The Supreme Court in a landmark judgement, ending the long drawn out controversy on the subject, emphatically held that temporary employees have no right to be permanently absorbed and government jobs are to be filled by a due process of selection and no by confirming temporary employees. See Breaking News for more details.