Point of Law: petitioners who are not employed by the Surat Municipal Corporation cannot claim regularisation or any benefit as prayed in this petition as they were employed by the contractor or agency through the respondent Corporation which was entrusted the work to supply man-power. Merely because the petitioners are working for the respondent Corporation, they are not entitled to get the benefits of regular employees

ORDER :

1. On 15th June, 2021 the following order was passed:

“Heard learned advocate Mr. Shakti Jadeja for learned advocate Mr. S.P. Majmudar for the petitioners and learned Senior Advocate Mr. Prashant Desai assisted by learned advocate Mr. Kaushal Pandya for the respondent-Surat Municipal Corporation through video conference. Arguments are concluded.

To be listed for dictation of order on 24th June, 2021 at 2:30 pm.”

2. On 24th June, 2021 due to paucity of time, the matter was adjourned today.

3. By this petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the petitioners have prayed for the following reliefs :

“(A) YOUR LORDSHIPS may be pleased to issue a writ of Mandamus or a writ in the nature of Mandamus or any other appropriate writ, order or directions holding and declaring that oral termination of the Some of the of the petitioners mentioned in para 8 of the present petition, made by the respondent-Corporation is absolutely illegal, unjustified and further be pleased to quash and set aside such oral termination of the petitioners, who were serving as contractual third grade computer operator (clerk);

(B) YOUR LORDSHIPS may be pleased to issue a writ of mandamus or a writ in the nature of mandamus or any other appropriate writ, order or direction directing the respondent-Corporation to reinstate the petitioners with full backwages and all consequential benefits in their original posts;

(c) YOUR LORDSHIPS may be pleased to issue a writ of mandamus or a writ in the nature of mandamus or any other appropriate writ, order or directions directing the respondent-Corporation to regularize the service of the petitioners;

ALTERNATIVELY

(C) YOUR LORDSHIPS may be pleased the issue a writ of mandamus or a writ in the nature of mandamus or any other appropriate writ, order or directions directing the respondent-Corporation to treat the petitioners as regular appointees in the post of computer operator (clerk) class third grade and continue the petitioners in the said posts on the regular basis at par with another permanent employees of the corporation and to extend then the benefits and status of permanent employees retrospectively from the date of completion of 240 days of service from their dates of joining.

(D) YOUR LORDSHIPS may be pleased to issue a writ of mandamus or a writ in the nature of mandamus or any other appropriate writ, order or direction directing the respondent-Corporation to permanently restraining the respondent from recruiting or appointing any employee to any of vacant posts of computer operator, which are fallen vacant due to termination of the some of the petitioners;

(E) During pendency and final disposal of the present applications, YOUR LORDSHIPS may be pleased to direct the respondent-Corporation to permit the terminated petitioners to serve on their original posts as a computer operator (clerk) with the respondent-Corporation;

(F) Pass any such other and/ or further orders that may be thought just and proper, in the facts and circumstances of the present case;”

4. Learned advocate Mr. Shakti Jadeja has tendered the draft amendment to add the name of one Pinky Ashokbhai Parmar as petitioner which is granted.

5. Brief facts of the case are that the petitioners were working on the post of Computer Operator (Clerk) through contractor with the respondent Surat Municipal Corporation for different years ranging from 1.5 years to 12 years and the services of some of the petitioners were orally terminated as mentioned in the statement at Annexure-A to the petition.

5.1 It is the case of the petitioners that the petitioners were working through contractor namely Akar HR Management Pvt. Ltd., Shiv Sai computers with the respondent Corporation. The respondent Corporation had issued advertisement in the year 2013 for various posts including 404 posts of Clerk (Grade-III). Pursuant to such advertisement, against 404 regular posts, total 774 persons were given appointment and waiting list of 888 persons was published.

5.2 Some