In Brief
Contractual employees hired on a temporary basis for an eleven-month fixed-term project cannot claim automatic regularisation or absorption into permanent government service simply because they worked for many years. The Supreme Court reversed the High Court's order directing absorption and creation of supernumerary posts. The Court held that the Umadevi principle applies only to irregular appointments on sanctioned permanent posts, not to temporary project workers. Service continued under an interim court order does not count towards regularisation eligibility. The state's offer to transfer them to Indian Red Cross Society was deemed administrative grace, not a legal obligation to absorb them into government service.
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