Labour & Service
Under What Circumstances Cancellation of An Examination Is Justified? Answers Gauhati High Court
A Division Bench of the Gauhati High Court comprising Chief Justice Ashutosh Kumar and Justice Arun Dev Choudhury held that cancellation of an examination is only justified when the sanctity of the process is compromised at a systemic level and it is impossible to separate tainted candidates from untainted ones; otherwise, segregation of suspicious candidates is required. Background...
Outsourced Workers Have No Right To Promotion; Designation Upgrade Without Authority Can Be Corrected: Uttarakhand High Court
The Uttarakhand High Court has held that “outsourced or contract employees do not automatically acquire the status enjoyed by regular State Employees”. Thus, holding the above, the High Court iterated that “continuance of an outsourced employee in service for long periods of time does not Ipso facto establish a direct employee-employer relationship with a State Government”. The Court...
Allowing Officer To Oversee Department Handling Disciplinary Proceedings Against Him Is Impermissible: MP High Court
The Madhya Pradesh High Court has held that permitting a delinquent officer to hold charge of the very department responsible for initiating disciplinary proceedings against him is legally impermissible and contrary to principles of natural justice. 2026 LiveLaw (MP) 211The bench of Justice Vivek Kumar Singh strongly criticised the State, remarking that the decision "shocks the conscience" of...
Is Sole Surviving Widow Entitled To Full Family Pension Despite Being 'Second Wife'? P&H High Court Answers
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has held that where a deceased government employee is survived by only one widow and there are no eligible claimants from a pre-deceased spouse, the surviving widow is entitled to full (100%) family pension.The Court clarified that the State cannot retain any portion of the pension by misapplying provisions meant for cases involving multiple...
Curable Irregularity In Final Appointment Process Cannot Invalidate Entire Recruitment : Supreme Court
The Supreme Court has held that a procedural defect in the final stage of a recruitment process cannot automatically invalidate appointments where the recruitment itself was otherwise conducted fairly and transparently, and directed a Haryana cooperative society to reconsider the appointments of seven employees who had served for more than a decade.A Bench of Justice Sanjay Karol and...
Need For Thermal And Ergonomic Mandates In India's New Labour Codes
Noida witnessed over 40,000 garment workers' protest in April, 2026. This was not just attributed to wages, but also over the physical impossibility to survive a 12-hour work shift in temperatures reaching 42 degrees celsius. India has now operationalised its four new labour codes, consolidating 29 statutes. At the centre of this transition is the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions, Code, 2020, ('OSHWC Code') which remains vague on safeguards for workers working in thermal stress...
'No Mala Fides Shown In Order': Rajasthan High Court Refuses To Quash Clerk's Transfer From Defence Canteen Stores Dept To Head Office
While rejecting petition challenging the transfer, Rajasthan High Court held that any Lower Division Clerk (LDC) posted in the Canteen Stores Department (CSD), Ministry of Defence, (stores) did not mean that such person had any right to not be considered for posting at the back-end office or the administrative wing of the said store. The division bench of Justice Uma Shanker Vyas and...
Dismissal Is Severest Punishment; Must Be Imposed Only For Grave Misconduct : Supreme Court
The Supreme Court recently observed that dismissal from service is one of the harshest forms of punishment; therefore, it must only be imposed by the disciplinary authority after duly considering relevant factors such as the nature and gravity of the misconduct, long service rendered, record, age, absence of financial loss to the company, etc. It also said that the period of suspension...
Workman With 240 Days Of Continuous Service, Termination Without Notice Is Illegal : HP HC
A Division Bench of the Himachal Pradesh High Court comprising Chief Justice G.S. Sandhawalia and Justice Bipin Chander Negi held that termination of a workman who has completed 240 days of continuous service without complying with disciplinary proceedings or notice is illegal, and abandonment of service cannot be presumed in such case. Background Facts The respondent was engaged as...
'Premature': Rajasthan High Court Rejects Estranged Wife's Plea For Inclusion As Nominee In Family Pension During Lifetime Of Husband
Rajasthan High Court dismissed the petition filed by an estranged wife seeking inclusion of her name as a nominee in the pension payment order (PPO) of her husband, after noting that since the husband was still alive and thus her petition was premature.The bench of Justice Ashok Kumar Jain observed that the petitioner had no right to claim inclusion of her name in the PPO as nominee to...
HP High Court Affirms 2-Year Service Extension For Indira Gandhi NSS National Awardee Teachers In Himachal Pradesh
A Division Bench of the Himachal Pradesh High Court comprising Chief Justice G.S. Sandhawalia and Justice Bipin Chander Negi held that a teacher who received a national award (Indira Gandhi NSS Award) from the President of India is entitled to the benefit of two years' extended service/salary increment, and the State cannot deny it based on the award being under a...