Contractual staff cannot be fired without inquiry

Two-judge HC bench says when any charge is levelled, govt has to hold inquiry even if accused employee is on fixed-pay contract

In a judgment that touches lakhs of contractual employees in the State, Gujarat High Court has ruled that employees appointed on fixed-pay contract cannot be terminated from service without being subjected to a full-fledged departmental inquiry.

The court issued the order in connection with the termination of two assistant motor vehicle inspectors Chetan Rajgor and Dhaval Prajapati who were accused of corruption while doing their duty at two different checkposts in the State. They were implicated by the Anti-Corruption Bureau and later terminated from service in 2015.

The two challenged the termination order in HC and got an order in their favour in 2019. The State government then filed an appeal before a two-judge bench which upheld the earlier HC order.

“Whenever any charge is levelled and action is found to be stigmatic, a full-scale departmental inquiry deserves to be undertaken irrespective of whether the delinquent was a regular employee or a contractual employee on fixed salary,” stated the bench of Chief Justice Vikram Nath and Justice A J Shashtri.

Reacting to the judgment, Dhaval Prajapati’s lawyer Jit Patel said, “If a charge is levelled, then the person has to be issued show-cause notice, a charge-sheet has to be filed, and an inquiry officer has to be appointed for the deposition. The punishment can include options other than the final punishment of termination.” Patel said, “In our case, the government just issued a show-cause notice, ignored a reply submitted by us and then issued a termination notice. Hence, we approached the HC.”

Appealing against the singlebench order, the government had earlier filed, “The terms of employment explicitly make it clear that contract employees are not subjected to any regular departmental inquiry contemplated under separate rules meant for regularly appointed confirmed employees. These employees voluntarily accepted terms of their appointment. Now, they cannot ask for compliance of rules which are otherwise meant for regular confirmed employees.”

The government added, “Show-cause notice was served upon both the employees. After considering their detailed replies, the authority has thought it fit to give a personal hearing and complied with principles of natural justice. It is only after such detailed compliance that a decision was taken by the authority to put an end to the contractual employment. The action cannot be said to be outside the scope of the principles of natural justice.”