MARGAO
With the South Goa Collector Agnelo Fernandes inviting applications for 147 posts, including 92 Lower Division Clerks (LDCs), the South Goa Comunidades Forum has urged the Collector to absorb the 20 surplus LDCs presently working in the office of the Administrator of Comunidades into the Collectorate, South Goa.
Forum President Franky Monteiro has dashed off a letter to the District Collector reminding that it was the Collector, South Goa, in his capacity as the appointing authority, who had appointed the 20 LDCs “illegally” against non-existent/non-sanctioned posts. “It is now the moral and legal duty of the Collector of South Goa to give justice to the said employees as well as to the Comunidades and undo the wrongs committed in the past. The 20 LDCs are your (unwanted) babies,” the letter stated. “Alternatively, the said 20 LDCs could be asked to apply for the vacancies and their case considered sympathetically while selecting the candidates considering their peculiar circumstances. The last date for submission of applications could be extended as a special case.”
The Forum drew attention of the Collector to the latest judgment of the Supreme Court in State of Bihar v. Kirti Narayan Prasad wherein the Court has reiterated that services cannot be regularized if the appointment was illegal and invalid.
Franky said the Forum is contemplating on approaching the court of law with respect to the illegally and invalidly appointed employees, saying it would be prudent and advisable for “your department to appropriately rehabilitate them and not leave them in the lurch and in uncharted waters.”
For over a decade, the components/members of South Goa Comunidades have been demanding the retrenchment of employees of the office of Administrator of Comunidades South on grounds that the salary bill was a financial burden on the Comunidades and their invalid appointment against non-existing posts. The issue among those highlighted in Writ Petition no. 406/2009 filed by Celestino Noronha and others in the High Court of Bombay at Goa; wherein the Court, while disposing the petition, directed that a Committee chaired by Revenue Minister be constituted to study and give its recommendations on all issues raised in the petition.
