Supreme Court Admonishes Governments for Hiring Temporary Employees

New Delhi: In a strong rebuke, the Supreme Court of India has criticized governments for their practice of hiring temporary or daily-wage employees, stating that a government employer should not act like a private entity. The bench, comprised of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta, emphasized that the state is a constitutional employer and must adhere to higher standards.

The court’s comments came while hearing a case against the Uttar Pradesh government, which had been directed to regularize the services of class 3 and 4 employees working for the State Education Services Selection Commission since 2002. The court observed that using ad-hoc appointments to bypass budgetary constraints and the established principles of public employment is impermissible.

The bench highlighted that a state employer’s responsibility is not merely to participate but to function as a constitutional employer, creating budgets to fulfill its purpose. It further noted that “long-term extraction of regular labour under temporary labels corrodes confidence in public administration and offends the promise of equal protection.”

The court pointed out that while financial stringency is a valid concern, it cannot be a justification for unfair practices or for ignoring lawful organizational principles. The court also underscored the need for governments to demonstrate sensitivity to the human consequences of prolonged insecure employment, stating, “Sensitivity to the human consequences of prolonged insecurity is not sentimentality. It is a constitutional discipline that should inform every decision affecting those who keep public offices running.”

The Supreme Court has made it clear that governments must prioritize the regularization of long-serving employees and demonstrate why they prefer ad-hoc arrangements over sanctioned permanent posts. The court’s ruling reinforces the principle that public employment must be governed by fairness, law, and a sense of constitutional duty.^{1 2 3}

Reference Links

1. https://www.barandbench.com/news/litigation/supreme-court-orders-up-to-regularise-daily-wage-workers-employed-on-ad-hoc-basis-for-three-decades ↩︎
2. https://www.livelaw.in/supreme-court/govts-must-not-extract-regular-work-from-ad-hoc-workers-must-create-sanctioned-posts-for-recurring-jobs-supreme-court-301385 ↩︎
3. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/sc-frowns-on-governments-hiring-temp-staffers/articleshow/123420796.cms ↩︎