Regularising contract staff will be expensive: Hyderabad civic body to HC

The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) told the HC that the latter has not undertaken the regularisation of outsourced employees since no person has been employed irregularly or on a temporary basis against any vacant and sanctioned post.

The occasion of conducting a one-time regularisation exercise as per the Supreme Court judgment in Uma Devi’s case, has not arisen. As for the impugned order of a single judge directing the GHMC to regularise the petitioners, it will not only lead to an additional 28,000 posts within GHMC, but also an additional financial burden of Rs 625 crore per year that the corporation will not be able to bear, it noted.

Pursuant to earlier direction of the court, the GHMC, represented by its commissioner DS Lokesh Kumar, filed an affidavit before a division bench dealing with an appeal filed by GHMC challenging an order of a single judge who directed the corporation to consider the case of the petitioners for regularisation of their services. On earlier occasion, the bench pulled up the corporation for engaging persons on outsourcing basis for a longer period. The matter will come up for hearing on October 9.