Cal HC orders regularisation of WBMDFC contractual employees

Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court has directed the state to regularise the services of the long-serving contractual employees of the West Bengal Minorities Development and Finance Corporation (WBMDFC).

The bench of Justice Rai Chattopadhyay was moved by 12 petitioners. The court held that the state violated Articles 14 and 23 of the Constitution by denying regularisation of their services since their continued engagement without permanent status is discriminatory and exploitative.

The court noted that the petitioners had been employed on contract since 2002 to perform duties related to the Corporation’s programmes, including self-employment schemes, vocational training, and educational support for minority communities. Their appointments were made when no recruitment regulations or sanctioned posts existed.

It was further noted that the Corporation had, between 2005 and 2013, sent multiple communications to the state government requesting regularisation of contractual staff. In 2007, 15 employees were regularised, but the petitioners—some senior in service—were not included. In 2015, the state sanctioned 54 posts, but directed that these would be filled through fresh recruitment following the promulgation of recruitment regulations in 2016. A recruitment notice was subsequently issued in 2019, excluding the petitioners.

The court held that the petitioners had performed continuous and core functions central to the Corporation’s statutory purpose, and that their exclusion from regularisation was not justified. It ruled that their appointments were not illegal and that the denial of regularisation violated constitutional guarantees.

The court set aside the 2015 departmental note, the portion of the 2015 notification that barred regularisation, and the 2019 recruitment notice. It directed the state and corporation to regularise the petitioners within three weeks of receiving the order and to fix their pay and disburse arrears within two months of regularisation. Recruitment to any remaining posts may proceed only after compliance with these directions.