CONTRACTUAL STAFF DON'T HAVE RIGHT TO CONTINUE BEYOND SET PERIOD:HIGH COURT.

The Punjab and Haryana High court in a decision has held that contractual staff don't have right to continue beyond the set period and decision issued to an employee engaged by the State of Haryana for a specific term,it mentioned that court cannot force the authorities to reinstate or renew the agreement after the engagement period is over.When the appointment is contractual and by efflux of time of time the appointment comes to an end,a contractual employee has no right to continue whatsoever on the post beyond the stipulated period and clarified citing various orders passed by SC and dismissed the plea taken by applicant to quash the order whereby his services were discontinued.After notifying comprehensive contractual policy for IT professionals in the state of Haryana during 2017 , the Haryana government issued an advertisement during December,2018 inviting applications from the IT professionals for various positions , including joint Chief IT officer and the petitioner applied for the position,and was interviewed on May 24, 2019 and was offered an appointment.The state government submitted that the petitioner did not possess the requisite experience for the post as per the advertisement.The High court was informed that the petitioner had experience of 11 years and 10 months after acquiring the qualification of MCA ,where as the requirement is of 21 years .The petitioner however,was of the view that his contract could be terminated on the grounds of non performance however on October 9,2020 a show cause notice was served on the petitioner and his services were terminated in accordance with the contract and later he was terminated from the post .The High court observed that although much stress has been laid by counsel for both the sides on the academic qualification and work experience of the petitioner,by efflux of time,this controversy had become academic.The petitioner has been engaged for a specific term under an agreement and it's term has expired.As such the petitioner ceases to be in the employment of the respondents,who have taken a conscious decision, not to renew the contract.At this stage , the state can neither be enforced to reinstate the petitioner nor to renew the agreement.