ANUP KRISHNA.P Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioners who are working as Management Information System (MIS) Specialists in various Districts under the Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan (RGSA) are challenging the termination of their services.

(2.) The petitioners were appointed as 'Specialist (MIS)' in Programme Management Units (PMU) under the erstwhile Rajiv Gandhi Panchayat Sasakthikaran Abhiyan (RGPSA) [presently under the RGSA] on a consolidated pay of Rs.50,000/- per month on contract basis as per Ext.P2 series of orders issued on 24.01.2015. The appointment was for a period of one year. They have been continuing since then on renewal of contract, executing agreements for the same, from time to time. The RGSA is a centrally sponsored scheme under the Ministry of Panchayat Raj under the Government of India.

(3.) Petitioners submitted their applications and on being successful in the process of selection, 15 Specialists (MIS) including the petitioners were appointed as per Ext.P2 series of letters of appointment for a period of one year, on execution of agreement. In the letter of appointment it was stated that further extension would be based on evaluation of their performance. All the 15 Specialists including the petitioners were allotted to the respective Districts as per Ext.P3 order and they joined the offices of the respective Deputy Directors as directed. On the basis of the letters submitted by the Director of Panchayats seeking permission to renew the contract employment of petitioners for a further period of one year each, Government granted permission for extension of their contract employment as per Ext.P4 order dated 29.01.2016, P5 order dated 24.03.2017 and P6 order dated 20.05.2018 respectively. While granting extension as per Ext.P5 order for the period from 01.02.2017, 10% hike was also ordered in their pay. Thus they continued on a monthly pay of Rs.55,000/- from 01.02.2017 onwards. In Ext.P7 order issued on 27.05.2019 Government stated that the term of the contract of the staff recruited for the Program Management Unit of RGSA expired on 31.01.2019 and that the Director of Panchayats had requested to renew the contract employment of MIS Specialists and Computer Programmer for a further period. After examining the matter the Government decided to grant permission for extending the term of contract of the existing 11 Specialists (MIS)-i.e the petitioners herein, for a period of 5 months from 01.02.2019 to 30.06.2019 on a monthly pay of Rs.50,000.