Chennai: Refusing to regularise the services of temporary employees in the district judiciary, Madras high court has directed the judicial administration to discontinue the practice of making temporary appointments and, instead, conduct annual recruitment to fill sanctioned posts through regular selection process.A division bench of justices S M Subramaniam and N Senthilkumar passed the order on Friday while dismissing petitions filed by temporary stenographers, typists and junior assistants appointed in the district judiciary in Tamil Nadu seeking permanent absorption.The bench observed that allowing temporary employees to be regularised would undermine the constitutional guarantee of equal opportunity in public employment and encourage illegal, irregular and backdoor appointments, besides prejudicing the rights of eligible candidates.Holding that the petitioners had accepted their appointments with full knowledge that they were temporary, the court said they could not subsequently seek regularisation. However, it directed the judicial administration to permit them to participate in the regular recruitment process for the respective posts.
