Supreme Court asks Kerala High Court to expeditiously decide plea of court managers seeking regularisation of service

A vacation bench of the Supreme Court on Tuesday requested the Kerala High Court to expeditiously decide the appeal preferred by two court managers seeking regularisation of service (Vidya Gopan v. High Court of Kerala)..The two court managers, who have been working in the Kerala High Court since 2014, approached the apex court after a Division Bench of the High Court refused to grant interim relief in their plea. Earlier, a single-judge of the High Court had dismissed their initial petition..Before the Division Bench of the High Court, the petitioners had filed a plea for grant of interim relief to the effect that they are not terminated from service till the pendency of the appeal proceedings..The present SLP in the Supreme Court was against the non-grant of interim relief by the Division Bench. The plea stated that the High Court failed to appreciate that since the selection process for regular appointments was to begin from April 17, 2021, the non-grant of interim relief would effectively render the appeal otiose..The vacation bench of Justices UU Lalit and BR Gawai requested the High Court to dispose of the writ appeal expeditiously..In their SLP, the petitioners contended that in the All India Judges Association case, the top court had directed that the services of any person already working as a court manager in any district should be regularized by the State government.However, the High Court read the verdict as being applicable only to district courts, the petitioners claimed..The High Court meanwhile also issued a fresh notification and conducted a written test for filling up the posts afresh. In this background, the court managers contended that the spirit of the Supreme Court judgment was not appreciated in the proper perspective. They also pointed out that 12 other High Courts in the country regularised the services of court managers..The plea further stated that the High Court made an error in not realizing that a refusal to regularize the petitioners while regularising other court managers in district courts is "wholly arbitrary, unfair, discriminatory and in blatant violation of Article 14.".The Supreme Court directed the High Court to consider the plea expeditiously while also ordering status quo as regards fresh recruitment. .Senior Advocate V Chitambaresh instructed by Advocate K Parameshwar appeared on behalf of the two court managers.