The main legal point established in the judgment is that an outsourcing agency is not an authority in terms of Article 12 of the Constitution, and therefore, no writ is maintainable against it.

JUDGMENT

Anil Kshetarpal, J. - Through this writ petition filed under Article 226/227 of the Constitution of India, the petitioners pray for issuance of a writ in the nature of certiorari, quashing the action of the respondents in replacing the petitioners with fresh set of contractual employees.

2. The petitioners claim that they were employed by Oscar Service and Fire Services Limited, Outsourcing Agency as Security Guards. In para 8 of the writ petition, the petitioners have compiled the information regarding their engagement, which is extracted as under:-

Petitioner No. Name Date of joining Last place of Posting 1. Naresh Kumar 11.12.2009 Haryana State Warehouse, Pipli, Kurukshetra 2. Vipin Panwar 20.03.2020 Haryana State Warehouse, Pipli, Kurukshetra 1 of 5 ::: Downloaded on - 15-12-2020 12:55:45 ::: CWP-17454-2020 (O&M) -2- 3. Raj Kumar 1.1.2020 Haryana State Warehouse, Pipli, Kurukshetra 4. Jasmeet 20.6.2020 Haryana State Warehouse, Pipli, Kurukshetra 5. Rajat Kumar 01.06.2020 Haryana State Warehouse, Pipli, Kurukshetra

3. The writ petitioners further claim that they have been replaced on 16.09.2020 by respondent No. 4 to 8 as a new Outsourcing Agency i.e. respondent No.3. M/s Scientific Security Management Services Private Limited has been awarded contract by the Haryana State Warehousing Corporation.

4. This Court has heard learned counsel for the petitioners as well as Mr. Samarth Sagar, Addl. A.G. Haryana.

5. Learned counsel for the petitioners contends that in view of the principle that a contractual employee cannot be replaced by a contractual employee, the replacement of the petitioners by another set of contractual employees is illegal. He, in support thereof, relies upon judgment passed on 26.02.2019 in Umed Singh Vs. State of Haryana and anothers, CWP-8019- 2017. He further relies on an interim order dated 22.09.2020 passed in CWP-14966-2020 titled as Ram Pal and others Vs. State of Haryana State Warehousing Corporation and others.

6. On the other hand, Mr. Samarth Sagar, Addl. A.G. Haryana, has drawn attention of the Court to a short judgment passed on 10.12.2018 by the Division Bench in Sharanbir Kaur Vs. State of Punjab and others, LPA1910-2018 and a detailed order passed on 11.12.2019 in the case of Vikash Vs. State of Haryana and others, CWP-19762-2018. He further contends that the petitioners were employees of a private outsource agency i.e. Oscar Service and Fire Services Limited and there was no privity of contract between the Corporation and the petitioners. He further submitted that there was no relationship of employer and employee between the Corporation and the petitioners. He also contended that the respondent No.3, a new Outsourcing Agency is not an authority in terms of the Article 12 of the Constitution of India. Hence, the writ petition against respondent No. 3 is not maintainable.

7. After analyzing the arguments of learned counsel for the parties, this Court is of the considered view that the writ petition filed by the petitioners has no substance and, therefore, liable to be dismissed. The reasons for forming an opinion are as under:-

1) In Umed Singh (Supra), the Court relied upon the judgment passed in Shiv Kumar and another Vs. State of Haryana and another, CWP17441-2013, decided on 03.08.2016. This Court has carefully time and again read the judgment in Shiv Kumar (Supra). In that case, two employees were directly recruited on contract basis by the State or an authority in terms of Article 12 of the Constitution. Shiv Kumar's case was not a case of employees who were engaged through Outsourcing Agency. Still further, in the case of Umed Singh (Supra), the learned counsel appearing for the State failed to draw attention of the Court to the fact that Outsource Agency is a private entity and is not an authority in terms of the Article 12 of the Constitution.

2) Respondent No.3 is the Outsource Agency, which is not an authority in terms of Article 12 of the Constitution. Hence, no writ is m