Retrospective disengagement of long-serving contractual employee illegal if duties continued post-tenure; replacement by another contractual impermissible, entitling continuation till regular incumbent joins.

O R D E R

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

1.By filing the instant OA under Section 19 of the Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985, the applicant is seeking the following reliefs:-

"8.1 To quash and set aside order dated 20.5.2025 and to further direct the respondent to re-engaged the applicant as Assistant Director (Entomology) on contractual basis forthwith with all consequential benefits.

8.2 To quash and set aside the Public Notice/Advertisement dated 'Nil' (uploaded of website on 23.5.2025) to an extent whereby it advertised the one post of Assistant Director (Entomology) in Delhi on contractual basis.

8.3 To pass any such other order as this Hon'ble Tribunal may deem fit and proper in the facts and circumstances of the case."

FACTS OF THE CASE

2. The respondent issued an advertisement in the year 2019 for filling up various posts in the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), including the post of Assistant Director (Entomology) on a contractual basis (Annexure A-5).

2.1 The applicant applied for the said post and was subsequently appointed as Assistant Director (Entomology) on contract basis vide offer of appointment dated 01.03.2019 (Annexure A-4 colly). The said appointment was initially for one year, extendable or till regular incumbents joined.

2.2 The applicant stated that he had 18 years of technical experience in the field of Medical Entomology, including, but not limited to the following areas:

(i) Mosquito taxonomy (malaria, dengue, chikungunya, JE vectors);

(ii) Tick taxonomy (vectors of CCHF & KFD);

(iii) Flea taxonomy (vector biology of plague and dermatitis);

(iv) Bionomics of arthropod vectors;

(v) Outbreak investigation, prevention and control of vector-borne diseases;

(vi) Monitoring/Evaluation of dengue, chikungunya & malaria; and (vii) IEC programmes on vector-borne diseases.

2.3 The applicant’s contractual tenure was extended from time to time and he continued in service without any break, except a technical break of one day each year. The details of extension orders are as under:

(i) 15.03.2019 to 14.03.2020 (Order dated 02.04.2019)

(ii) 16.03.2020 to 15.09.2020 (Order dated 31.03.2020)

(iii) 16.09.2020 to 15.03.2021 (Order dated 14.09.2020)

(iv) 17.03.2021 to 16.03.2022 (Order dated 19.04.2021) (v) 19.03.2022 to 17.03.2023 (Order dated 05.01.2022)

(vi) 20.03.2023 to 19.03.2024 (Order dated 06.02.2023)

(vii) 20.03.2024 to 19.03.2025 (Order dated 22.03.2024)

2.4 The applicant has exceptional educational qualifications and has rendered unblemished and meritorious service since his appointment. At no point was there any adverse remark or complaint recorded against him. The applicant contributed significantly to national disease containment efforts, including COVID-19 duties, outbreak investigations, vector surveillance, international event preparedness, and critical public health assignments. The summary of his accomplishments includes:

(i) Served continuously as Assistant Director (Entomology), NCDC from March 2019;

(ii) COVID-19 Night Duty Coordinator, National Control Room (Jan–Apr 2020);

(iii) Coordinated RT-PCR testing of staff/officers of Ministries, Courts, PMO, NITI Aayog etc.

(iv) Led genome sequencing & field testing teams duri