The service of a temporary government employee or those working in any institution with “deep and pervasive state control” cannot be regularised, the Indian state of Kerala High Court has ruled. Regularisation refers to the conversion of temporary employees into permanently employed positions. The Hindu Business Line reports that division bench justices gave the verdict on the basis of an earlier judgement of other similar cases including by the Supreme Court. The bench said ‘such privileges cannot be granted to the employees of even special purpose vehicles formed for implementing specific projects or the institutions of public importance and related to governmental functions.’ 

The bench said ‘no regularisation can be granted to any temporary employee of the government or those employed in its departments, statutory bodies including Local Self-Government Institutions, government companies, statutory corporations or of any institution like the IHRD (Institute of Human Resources Development) where there is “deep and pervasive state control”.

The decision follows a series of protests in the state capital by students who have passed the Public Service Commission (PSC) exam with four of them even threatening to commit suicide. Allegedly, a number of regularised temporary employees working in various government departments had links to the ruling Communist Party of India (CPM).

The Kerala government has previously defended the decision to regularise the temporary employees. CPM central committee member and Industries Minister E P Jayarajan said, “It is a charitable act. By making them permanent, the government is making their families secure. Let their families live in prosperity, don’t try to destroy them. They have been working on a temporary basis for several years, some of them for 10 years.”