JUDGMENT

A disengagement notice, hereinafter referred to as impugned communication issued by the respondents in the name of petitioners is the subject matter of the writ petition. The petitioners seek its quashment and subsequently allowing them to continue in contractual service till the scheme, pursuant to which they came to be engaged, is subsisting.

2. To understand the issue in its right perspective, the facts leading to filing of the writ petition are enumerated hereunder:-

i) In the year 2009, the Jammu and Kashmir Bank Ltd., created an authority namely, J&K Bank Rural Self Employment Training Institutes Society, for short JKBRSETI Society. The objective of the society amongst others, is to promote JKBRSETIs, to impart entrepreneurship development, self-employment trainings, instructions and skill building programmes etc., in the State. In that direction the society set up JKBRSETIs in various districts, J&K Bank acting as a lead Bank. The funding of the society was provided by the Sponsor Bank, Government of India, State Government or any other instrumentalities or institutions of the same, directly or indirectly, for carrying out and pursuing the objectives of the society. In the year 2009, Government of India, Ministry of Rural Development formulated a Scheme/ Guidelines for Rural Self Training Institutes (RSETIs).

ii) The Scheme made provisions for organizational structure, nomenclature, sponsorship including provision for engagement of staff. The manner for recruitment of the staff was provided as follows:

“a) RSETIs should be headed by a Director on deputation from Sponsor bank with rural banding exposure. He should be an officer of Scale-II/III of the Bank.

b) He should have the flair of training with aptitude for rural development activities.

c) Supporting faculties and Staff either on deputation from the Sponsoring bank or on contract basis shall be made available on regular basis.

d) The Banks may appoint fresh recruits for development management activities from organizations like NIRD and IRMA etc., to assist the Director in operationalizing the training programmes. These specialists can help in formulating training programmes to liasoning with organizations like BIRD and NABARD, evaluation and monitoring, etc. Subsequently the Government of India, Ministry of Rural Development in 2015 also provided Manual for engagement of outsourced staff of Rural Self Employment Training Institutes (RSETIs). The Manual provided qualifications and other requirements of Director, Faculty, Office Assistant, Attender, Watchman/ Gardner. For engagement of Faculty, it provided qualification. The recruitment process also came to be provided. Minimum Standard also came to be provided. As per Clause 4 (ii) of the Manual following came to be prescribed:

“The contract will be valid for a period of 3 years subject to annual review and renewal of the contract by the Director once a year.”

e) The Scheme as also the Manual only provided for the contractual engagement and not for any regular engagement in the society or in the bank. For making the engagements communications were addressed to University of Kashmir and University of Jammu to identify the candidates who satisfy the qualification prescribed by the Scheme. On identification b the authorities of the University of Kashmir and University of Jammu the interaction was had with the candidates and suitable candidates were offered engagement on contractual basis and this is how the petitioners came to be engaged.

f) The petitioners’ were initially engaged for a period of eleven months. Thereafter, the period was extended from time to time and in terms of the final extension the petitioners continued till 31.07.2019.

g) Before the expiry of the term of the petitioners the Bank issued a revised online notification (contractual jobs @ J&K Bank RSETI) on 23rd May, 2019, which was challenged by the petitioners before the court of City Munsiff, Srinagar, by filing a civil suit and sought a