Hired On Contract Through A Full Selection, Then Regularised: Every Year Counts
About ninety Junior Office Assistants in the Himachal electricity board were denied credit for their contract years when promotions came up. The High Court has ordered those years counted for seniority and promotion.
The Court held the staff were recruited through the Staff Selection Commission under the recruitment rules, in open competition, and regularised without a break. Their claim is squarely covered by Direct Recruits and Taj Mohammad. The board's reliance on the 2024 Employees Act failed: that Act was quashed in April 2026. Contract service must be counted for seniority, increments and promotion, with arrears by 31 December 2026.
- How you were hired matters. A full selection under the rules, not a backdoor entry, made the contract years count.
- The 2024 Act is gone. It was struck down, and the Supreme Court dismissed the State's appeal.
- A take-it-or-leave-it contract did not bar the claim; the Court called it one-way traffic.
- No clash with clerks — separate promotion quotas keep both channels intact.
- Court
- High Court of Himachal Pradesh at Shimla
- Bench
- Justice HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE VIVEK SINGH THAKUR, Justice HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RANJAN SHARMA
- Citation
- CWP No. 13050 of 2025 and connected matters
- Case
- CWP No. 13050 of 2025 and connected matters
- Decided
- 8 September 2026
- Outcome
- Writ petitions allowed; contract service to count for seniority, increments and promotion
Who the petitioners are
The petitioners are Junior Office Assistants (IT) in the Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board Limited. They were selected through the State Staff Selection Commission, meeting the eligibility and procedure in the recruitment rules, but appointed on contract between 2017 and 2022.
Under State policy they were regularised after three years, between 2020 and 2024. Promotion to Senior Assistant needs seven years as a Junior Office Assistant; counting their contract years, many had that by 2024. The board refused to count those years, and began promoting clerks appointed after them.
The board's defences
The board relied on the Himachal Pradesh Recruitment and Conditions of Service of Government Employees Act, 2024. That Act had already been quashed by the High Court in Devinder Kumar in April 2026, a decision affirmed when the Supreme Court dismissed the State's appeal in July 2026. The plea was therefore unavailable, and orders rejecting claims on that basis were set aside.
The board also said the petitioners signed contracts with open eyes and acquired no right during the contract. The Court noted that none was ever terminated; each was regularised after satisfactory service, and the right accrued on regularisation. It added that an unemployed young person has no option but to sign such a 'dotted line' contract — a one-way traffic.
Why contract service counts
Because the petitioners were appointed through the prescribed agency after competing with all eligible candidates under the rules, and served without interruption until regularised, their claim was squarely covered by paragraph 47-A of the Constitution Bench decision in Direct Recruits, as followed in Taj Mohammad, which the Supreme Court had declined to disturb.
Counting the contract service does not hurt the clerks: promotions to Senior Assistant run in separate quotas for the two cadres.
The board must count contract service for seniority, increments and consequential benefits, and consider the petitioners for promotion against vacancies from 2024 in their quota. Increments for the contract period are to be notional for fixing pay and pension. Arrears are due by 31 December 2026, failing which interest runs at 6 per cent.
Who argued it
Appearances as recorded in the judgment of the Court.
Frequently asked
Does contract service count after regularisation in Himachal?
Where the appointment was through the regular selection process and continued without a break, the Court held it does.
Can the 2024 Employees Act be used to deny these benefits?
No. It was quashed in April 2026, and the Supreme Court dismissed the State's appeal.
If your contract years are being ignored
- Show you were selected through the regular process under the rules, not a stop-gap engagement.
- Prove continuous service from contract to regularisation, without a break.
- Cite Direct Recruits para 47-A and Taj Mohammad.
- If the 2024 Act is raised against you, point to Devinder Kumar and the Supreme Court's dismissal of the appeal.
Source. High Court of Himachal Pradesh at Shimla, CWP No. 13050 of 2025 and connected matters, decided 8 September 2026 by Justice HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE VIVEK SINGH THAKUR, Justice HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RANJAN SHARMA. This explainer is written from the judgment text as reported.
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