HC expounds S. 33 of the ID Act, which provides that conditions of service etc. have to remain unchanged during the pendency of proceedings

  

On 25^th August, a bench of Delhi High Court consisting of Justice Prathiba M. Singh, held that when the NITs clearly shows that the existing DEOs are not being replaced and one of the conditions of the tender is that all the existing Data Entry Operators (DEO) have to be continued, then under such circumstances, there cannot be any inherent right that the DEOs can claim that the Contractor ought not to be changed, especially considering that it is the admitted position in all these petitions, that they are currently contractual employees.

Fact of the case:

The writ petitions have been filed by Data Entry Operators engaged in various Departments forming part of the GNCTD, Delhi such as the Chief Electoral Officer, GNCTD; Department of Social Welfare, GNCTD; Department of Training and Technical Education, GNCTD etc. The case of these DEOs is that they have been working in their respective Departments for several years and they were engaged through two different agencies, namely, NIELT and ICSIL in the various writ petitions. The contracts qua each of the Petitioners/DEOs were extended from time to time by the Respondents. The Respondents then decided to issue fresh NITs to procure the services of DEOs, on the Government -e- Market portal, due to the operation of the General Financial Rules, 2017 which under Rule 149, makes it mandatory to procure goods and services from the said portal. Owing to the same, the Petitioners in all these petitions apprehended their termination from contractual service. Due to the said apprehension, the Petitioner- DEOs approached the appropriate labour Authority.

Contention of the petitioner:

Mr. Sanjay Ghose, ld. Senior Counsel appearing for the Petitioners, along with Ms. Meghna De, ld. counsel, submitted the following contention:

1. It was submitted that since the plea for regularization is already pending before the labour Courts and the terms of reference clearly raise issues as to which of the managements is to be held responsible for granting regularization, the advertisement on the GeM portal for the same very posts, could induct new contractors and could prejudice the cause of the DEOs irreparably.
2. It was further submitted that If a third party contractor enters the arrangement through the NIT process on the GeM portal, it would also result in complicating the regularization petitions, which are already pending before the labour Courts.

Contention of the respondent:

 

Mr. Rishikesh Kumar, ld. ASC, has filed the following short reply and has also placed on record some of the NITs which have been published in some Districts by the Chief Electoral Officer:

1. It was submitted that that under Rule 149 of the GFR, 2017, the Government Departments are mandated by the Central Government, to obtain goods and services only through the GeM portal.
2. It was further submitted that that DEOs ought not to have any apprehension in respect of their engagement, inasmuch as the NITs which have been issued, clearly stipulate that the existing DEOs would not be replaced and a perusal of the NIT would reveal that the names of all the existing DEOs are clearly contained in the NIT itself, making it abundantly clear that these DEOs are not to be replaced or terminated by the new contractor.

Observation and judgment of the court:

 The following observation has been made by the hon’ble bench of the court: 

1. The Petitioners-DEOs being contractual employees, and the contracts merely being renewed from time to time, makes it clear that no permanent right can be claimed by the DEOs, unless and until orders are passed, if any, in the applications seeking regularization, pending before the labour Courts.
2. The respective Departments are free to proceed in accordance with law to obtain services of DEOs from the GeM portal, subject to compliance to the conditions given by the court.

In the light of the above, the present petition and all pending applications were disposed of. 

 

Read Judgment;

 

SOURCE ; www.latestlaws.com

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