Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Thursday stayed the state government move to regularise temporary employees with service over 10 years in various self-governing institutions.
The order will apply to those appointments that have not yet been completed.
The court passed the order on six pleas including that of PSC rank-holders. It has also issued notices to various government departments.
Justice Devan Ramachandran, who considered the batch of pleas, said the court will hear the matter on March 12. The court has also asked the government to take no further action on the matter till next hearing.
Senior counsel George Poonthottam appeared for petitioners.
Earlier, the LDF government had issued several orders regularising temporary staff who have 10 years of experience in various institutions.
The petitioners pleas were against the appointments in Kerala Institute of Local Administration (KILA), Kerala State Electronics Development Corporation (KELTRON), Kerala Bamboo, Kattuvalli and Pandanus Leaf Workers Welfare Fund Board, Centre for Development of Imaging Technology (C-DIT), Forest Industries( Travancore) Limited, Kerala State Literacy Mission Authority, Kerala State Youth Commission, Kerala Bureau of Industrial Promotion (K-BIP), LBS Kerala, Women's Commission and State Council for Open and Lifelong Education - Kerala (SCOLE Kerala).
The Kerala Government came under pressure last month when a set of Last Grade Servants (LGS) rank holders camped in front of the Secratariat campus in Thiruvananthapuram since January seeking appointments and extension of their rank list in various Public Service Commission (PSC) exams. The agitation grew in strength with those who are in with a chance to get jobs in police and education departments joining the movement.
What intensified the agitation was the move to regularise 2,336 contract employees, who completed 10 years in service, in various departments and government-funded entities. The government’s contention was that the regularisation was carried out on humanitarian grounds.
Half of the agitating job seekers had called off their nearly one-and-a-half-month after Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's nominee, Minister for Culture A K Balan, conceded a part of their demands during talks held in Thiruvananthapuram last week.
