Contractual Employees Can't Be Replaced By Another Set Of Contractual Employees: Rajasthan High Court Grants Relief To Vocational Trainers

Rajasthan High Court granted relief to the petitioners who were serving as vocational trainers for several years, and were deployed through third party agencies i.e. vocational training providers (VTPs). The services of the petitioners were terminated after the State terminated the contract with the VTPs. The bench of Justice Ashok Kumar Jain directed the State to engage the petitioners directly through a contract and pay them honorarium directly through the bank transfer mechanism. The Court opined that it was settled in many cases that a set of contractual employees, whether engaged directly or indirectly, could not be replaced by another set of contractual employees, unless the service was replaced by a regularly selected candidate.For context, the Court was hearing a bunch of petitioners who had approached the Court seeking protection of their rights and livelihood, after the State had cancelled the engagement agreement with the VTPs. It was argued by the petitioners that the State was duty-bound to engage the vocational trainers directly and not through VTPs. It was contended that VTPs had adopted unfair labour practices while dealing with the vocational trainers leading to their exploitation and issues of non-payment. On the contrary, Additional Advocate General (AAG) argued on behalf of the State that since there was no privity of contract between the petitioners and the State, the petitioners had no locus to file the petitions. Further, the AAG submitted that as per the National Education Policy, it was the State's discretion to engage the vocational trainers directly or through the VTPs. Hence, no directions could be sought to be issued to the State to engage the vocational trainers on a direct basis. After hearing the contentions, the Court referred to the Supreme Court case of Manish Gupta and others v President Jan Bhagidari Samiti in which it was held that one set of contractual employee could not be replaced by another set. Furthermore, the Court held that since the petitioners were serving under the Government Scheme, and they were engaged to implement the same, they acquired a right to challenge the decision of the State when their services were terminated with the termination of the contract with the VTPs. The Court further observed that continuity of a contractual employee could be maintained only when a workforce was directly engaged. “In case when a contractual employee is engaged through a service provider, then after every year engaging another service provider will increase the risk of exploitation of workforce, and threat to discontinue their services. A new contractor (VTP) may discontinue the services of petitioners…In such circumstances, no law permits discontinuing of employee after end of every year. Such discretion is an abuse of authority by the respondents.”In this relation the Court took the example of the State of Haryana wherein the persons engaged through VTPs were continued and engaged directly and were now being paid directly by the State Government. The Court held that Rajasthan could also consider adopting the same model, which would not only be beneficial for the petitioners but also for effective implementation of NEP. “In case contract between service provider (VTP) and the respondents has been terminated, then the option left before the respondents is to engage of petitioners directly through a contract. The respondents may evolve a procedure either engaging themselves or through a Government Corporation, established for skill development in the State.”In this background, the Court directed setting aside of termination of the petitioners and their engagement directly under a contract, subject to the scrutiny of their qualifications as prescribed. Accordingly, the petitions were disposed of. Title: Govind Ram Yadav & Ors. v State of Rajasthan & Ors., and other connected petitions Citation: 2026 LiveLaw (Raj) 231Click Here To Read/Download Order

Contractual Employees Can't Be Replaced By Another Set Of Contractual Employees: Rajasthan High Court Grants Relief To Vocational Trainers

Nupur Agrawal

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Nupur Agrawal

Contractual Employees Can't Be Replaced By Another Set Of Contractual Employees: Rajasthan High Court Grants Relief To Vocational Trainers

Nupur Agrawal

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Nupur Agrawal

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