In a significant order, the Kerala High Court has said that if temporary appointments are made in the university while the PSC list is in force, then the priority should be given to those who figure in the list.
The court said while inviting applications for temporary appointments the university should specifically mention that those in the existing PSC list would be given priority. The court, however, clarified that contract and daily wage conditions would be applicable to such appointments and nobody would have the right to claim regular appointment on the basis of such postings.
The order was issued by a division bench of the High Court comprising Justice A K Jayasankar Nambiar and Justice P Gopinath while hearing a petition filed by one C V Biju who figures in the list of various universities.
The division bench directed that the petitioner should be included in the temporary appointment that may arise in future. The university on its part had pointed out that the PSC list was applicable only to regular appointments and many from the list were considered for the 211 regular posts. The university further informed the court that it had appointed people for 42 temporary posts to discharge various administrative requirements of the university. A selection process was followed for the contract and daily wage appointments.
However, the court pointed out that neglecting persons who attained PSC selection for regular jobs, for the temporary appointments in the university cannot be justified.
But this does not mean PSC should interfere in temporary appointments. The PSC list is for regular employment and therefore there is no hurdle in considering people on the list for temporary appointments.
Since the validity of the list has expired the petitioner has no claim on the recognised regular post. At the same time, the court came out with the positive order clarifying that the denial of temporary appointment to the petitioner before the expiry of the PSC list, was not justified.
