Contractual employees cannot be replaced by another set of contractual employees without proper recruitment as established by legal precedents, ensuring equal pay where duties overlap with regular positions.

ORDER

Hon’ble Mr. Rajinder Kashyap, Member (A): -

By way of the present O.A., filed under Section 19 of the Administrative Tribunals Act , 1985, the applicants (13 in number), in Para 8 of the O.A., have prayed for the following reliefs: -

“a) Quashing and setting aside of OIC-Estt. Branch-PHQ upload memo no. F.18(26)/Estt./PHQ/2025/CDNo. 3799530/2947 dated 25.04.2025 with annexed thereto advertisement notice-2025 [Annexure A-1];

b) As usual continuation of the contractual employments of the Applicants with all consequential reliefs and benefits, including pay and allowances for the intermittent period i.e. 01.04.2025 to till rejoining of the Applicants;

Any other or further order or direction to grant complete relief to the applicants.”

2. Pursuant to notice, the respondents have filed their counter affidavit opposing the claim of the applicant and have prayed for dismissal of the present Original Application.

FACTS OF THE CASE

3. The Delhi Prisons/Respondent No. 2 presently comprises 16 Central Jails situated across three Prison Complexes, namely Tihar, Rohini, and Mandoli. Section 6 of the Delhi Prisons Act , 2000 mandates that every Central Jail shall have, inter alia, a Law Officer. The relevant statutory provision reads as under:

“6. For every prison there shall be a Superintendent, a Deputy Prisons Superintendent, a Medical Officer, a Law Officer, a Welfare Officer, and such other officers as the Government thinks it necessary.”

3.1 It is submitted that although the statute requires a Law Officer for each prison, there has been only one sanctioned post of Law Officer in Delhi Prisons since its creation in 1993. With the number of Central Jails having increased to 16, this statutory mandate remained unfulfilled. Consequently, a Public Interest Litigation (W.P. (C) No. 4173/2019, Amit Sahni Vs. Government of NCT of Delhi & Anr.) was filed. By order dated 27.09.2019, the Hon‟ble Delhi High Court, noting the submissions of the Respondents therein (i.e., GNCTD through its Home Department and Delhi Prisons) that the “steps for creation of posts of Law Officers for each Jail are under process”, disposed of the petition. The matter was released from monitoring with a direction to the Respondents to complete the appointment process at the earliest, preferably within 12 weeks from receipt of the order.

3.2 Pursuant thereto, Respondent No. 2 sought permission to engage Law Officers on a contractual basis, making it clear that such contractual appointments were to be purely temporary, initially for one year, and extendable only until the posts were created and filled on a regular basis, so as to comply with the directions of the Hon‟ble High Court. In compliance, 14 posts of Law Officer (Contractual) were publicly advertised, carrying emoluments of ₹35,400 + Dearness Allowance. A Selection Board was constituted, and after following due process, including interview, recommendation, offer of appointment, medical examination, police verification, and issuance of appointment orders, the applicants herein, along with one other candidate, were appointed as Law Officers (Contractual) for an initial period of one year.

3.3 Details of the applicants‟ contractual engagement are provided herein below for the ready reference of this Tribunal: