POONAM SUDAN Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The two Petitioners, Ms Poonam Sudan and Ms Shama Rani, have in this petition, challenged an order dated 15th September, 2015 passed by the Central Administrative Tribunal ("CAT"), Principal Bench, dismissing their OA No.2173 of 2013, in which they prayed for directions to the Respondents i.e. the Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan ("NYKS") (Respondent No.2); the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports ("MYAS"), Government of India (Respondent No.1); the Department of Personnel & Training ("DoPT") and the Ministry of Law & Justice and the Ministry of Finance (Respondent Nos. 3 to 5), to regularize their services.

(2.) The case of the two Petitioners is that they have been engaged on contractual basis after following the due process of recruitment by calling for applications through the employment exchange. After conducting skill test, interview etc., the Petitioner No.1 was employed to work against a post comparable to "Assistant"; and the Petitioner No.2 as "stenographer", on contractual basis. They state that as of the date of the filing of the present petition in 2015, they have been working for 14 continuous years. The work performed by them is equivalent to the work by other regular employees. Both the Petitioner claimed that NYKS had vacant sanctioned posts at the level of the posts against which the Petitioners had been employed.

(3.) The Board of Governors ("BoG") of the NYKS at its meeting held on 2nd February 2010, had taken a decision directing the Director General ("DG"), NYKS to examine the issue of regularization of the services of the Petitioners and recommend the process for regularization/ confirmation of their services in NYKS, by identifying suitable positions/ posts for that purpose. The BoG also accorded necessary age relaxation to enable the Petitioners to be considered against the existing vacancies. It also raised the consolidated remuneration paid to the Petitioners to Rs.15,000/- per month. In 2014, the BoG recommended regularization and further enhancement of the said remuneration.