The Supreme Court has ruled that employees hired without advertisement or interviews cannot be regularised in service. The judgment came in a case involving Haryana government notifications that had tried to make contractual, ad hoc, and daily wage staff permanent as a one-time measure.
The Court said that appointments made without following the standard recruitment process raise doubts about fairness and transparency. It modified an earlier High Court order and directed that such employees should be placed only in the lowest pay scale of the posts they hold. The benefit will also apply to other similarly- placed workers, subject to verification by authorities.
The case dates back to notifications issued by the Haryana government between 2011 and 2014. These sought to regularise employees in Groups B, C, and D who had worked for several years. The Punjab and Haryana High Court had struck down these notifications in 2018, saying they violated earlier Supreme Court rulings that required recruitment through proper procedures. The High Court had allowed the employees to continue temporarily and directed the government to advertise vacant posts and complete fresh recruitment.
The Supreme Court has now upheld the principle that jobs must be filled through open and fair recruitment. While it allowed existing workers to remain in service at the lowest pay scale, it made clear that bypassing advertisement and interviews cannot lead to permanent appointments.
This ruling reinforces the importance of transparent hiring practices in government employment. It also highlights the balance between protecting workers already in service and ensuring that future recruitment follows fair procedures, creating equal opportunities for all jobseekers.
