HC orders regularisation of anganwadi workers, supervisors
In a major relief to hundreds of contract employees, the Telangana High Court has delivered a key verdict on their long-pending demand for regularisation.
Justice Nagesh Bheemapaka of the Telangana High Court has directed the state government to regularise the services of Anganwadi workers and Supervisors Grade-II, who were appointed against sanctioned posts but continued on contract due to a recruitment ban.
The order came on two writ petitions filed in 2013 by B Bharathamma and 168 others, and G Venkata Laxmi and 30 others. The petitioners contended that though they were duly selected through the prescribed recruitment process, they were appointed on contract via RK4CES Agency because of a government ban on regular appointments. Many of them have been serving for over a decade, some since the mid-1980s.
The petitioners challenged a 2013 government notification that sought to fill Supervisor Grade-II posts through direct recruitment with only 15% weightage for existing contract staff. The High Court found this arbitrary, observing that the petitioners had already undergone the due selection process and were appointed against sanctioned posts.
Rejecting the state’s argument that rules only permit direct recruitment, Justice Bheemapaka held that the government, having benefited from the services of the petitioners for decades, cannot now compel them to undergo a fresh selection process. He emphasised that the petitioners’ educational qualifications and experience entitle them to regularisation, with past service counted towards pension and retirement benefits.
“The impugned notification is a curtain-raiser to a messy situation,” the court observed, noting that even new aspirants would be unsure of the actual vacancies available.
Allowing both writ petitions, the Court directed the State to pass appropriate regularisation orders and permitted filling of any leftover vacancies thereafter.
HCA president gets conditional bail
Justice K Sujana of the Telangana High Court on Thursday granted conditional bail to Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) president A Jaganmohan Rao who has been in judicial custody for over 45 days.
The court observed that the Investigating Officer (IO) has already examined 18 witnesses and collected most of the evidence, making further incarceration unwarranted.
By TG Naidu