Contractual appointment cannot be terminated without affording opportunity of hearing: High Court

Srinagar, Dec 20: The High Court of J&K and Ladakh has held that “contractual appointment cannot be terminated without affording an opportunity of hearing.

“Services of an employee cannot be dispensed with without affording him an opportunity of defending the accusations/allegations made against him in a full-fledged inquiry,” said a judgment authorized by Justice M A Chowdhary.

The Court observed that “it is settled law that even a contractual appointment cannot be terminated without affording an opportunity of hearing, if founded on allegation and/or misconduct, which casts a stigma on such an employee”.

The Court made the observation while allowing a plea by 16 persons that had sought to aside an order dated September 16, 2022 issued by Managing Director (MD) of the J&K Handicrafts Corporation related to their disengaging.

The petitioners’ contention was that after they were engaged in the Corporation on consolidated, contractual, need and contingency basis from time to time against different posts, they were discharging their duties diligently.

They contended that on a complaint by some persons before the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) against the then MD of the Corporation, the ACB issued a communication, recommending their disengagement for the reasons that the engagements had been made by the “abuse of authority by various MDs of the Corporation.”

The petitioners submitted that their disengagement was done without affording any opportunity of being heard to them.

“It was incumbent upon the Managing Director to provide an opportunity of being heard to the petitioners by following the principle of natural justice and due course of law,” they said.