Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay of Calcutta High Court on Friday set aside and quashed a notification issued by the authorities of Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) through which the institution had retrenched 11 contractual employees.
In his six-page order, Justice Gangopadhyay criticised the institution for not following certain norms while recruiting and retrenching the staff. The employees, working as cooks and gardeners, were given appointment in 2013 after interviews by the authorities concerned who committed that they would work in the institution till they attend their age of 59. Their contracts used to be renewed every year.
Justice Gangopadhyay, in his order, asked under what law the institution was keeping employees without approving their services for so many years.
The ISI authorities will move a higher bench of the court. Earlier in the week, a section of ISI teachers held a candlelight protest march on the campus against the decision to end the practice of renewing the service of the contractual employees through an internal committee of the institute.
From January, the institute has outsourced the recruitment process.