Mumbai A public interest litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Bombay high court (HC) seeking termination of the services of overage employees working in the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA).
The PIL claims that though the service rules state that employees can be re-employed on a contractual basis only till the age of 65, the SRA has been giving extensions and even promotions to some of its employees beyond that age, which is in violation of not only the service rules, but also government resolutions of 2010 and 2016, which prohibit extensions beyond the age of 65 years.
The petition claimed that continuation of these employees has denied the opportunity to newer recruits and hence sought directions from the HC to SRA to not only terminate the services of such employees but also issue recruitment notices.
As per Right to Information (RTI) filed by Milind Kuvalekar, a 35-year-old resident of Thane, it was found that the age of some employees extended till 35 years.
Kuvalekar filed the PIL through advocate Indrajeet Kulkarni and stated that the SRA had been continuing the employment of overage employees, which was creating a job crunch for the younger generation.
Kuvalekar claimed that as per information received under the RTI, of the 47 SRA staffers re-employed on contractual basis, many were between 65 to 75 years of age and some of them had also been given promotions from class IV and III which was violative of the government notification 2016. The PIL claims that though a complaint had been lodged in this regard with the concerned authorities, it has remained unaddressed.
The PIL further states that as the issue raised in the PIL deals with unemployment of younger candidates who can easily get jobs in the SRA provided the services of overaged employees are discontinued the petition is maintainable.
When the PIL came up for hearing before the division bench headed by chief justice Dipankar Datta on Monday, senior advocate Milind Sathe, representing the SRA, informed the bench that as the PIL dealt with service disputes, it could not be entertained. The HC will hear the plea next on Monday.