Orissa High Court orders review of worker’s 21-year wait for job security
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Santosh Kumar Patra, a laboratory attendant in Cuttack, India, received a court order that requires officials to reconsider his application for permanent employment after working on contract for over 21 years.
Patra began working at Shailabala Women’s Autonomous College in 2005, initially as a peon earning 70 rupees per day, and later became a contractual laboratory attendant. He applied for regularisation in 2017, but the Odisha Higher Education Department denied his request in 2019.
Justice Murahari Sri Raman of the Orissa High Court described the extended period of uncertainty as a “Sword of Damocles” hanging over Patra, and criticised the department’s inaction as a form of exploitation. The court rejected the department’s justification for denying Patra’s claim, which cited reservation requirements and his pay from self-financing courses as reasons.
The court determined that the college was responsible for adhering to reservation policies at the time Patra was hired, and could not retroactively apply later requirements to deny his application. It also noted that his contract was repeatedly extended for over two decades without objection. The Orissa Higher Education Department must now reconsider Patra’s claim within three months, acknowledging his long service and unblemished record.
