By Our Reporter
Shillong, June 23: The High Court of Meghalaya on Monday put on hold an order issued by the Voice of the People Party (VPP)-led Executive Committee of the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC), revoking the regularisation of over 30 casual employees.
The court’s stay came in response to a petition filed by six affected employees—four junior engineers and two junior architects—challenging the KHADC’s May 30, 2025 decision.
The petitioners, Wallamjinghun Nongsiej, Andrew Mulieh, Moodifield Lyngdoh, Lariboklang Marbaniang, Dale-Mid-Gift Marbaniang, and Saffiona Dkhar, pleaded that their services had been regularised after completing over a year a contractual staff.
However, the KHADC abruptly revoked their regularisation orders without prior notice or a chance for the employees to be heard.
According to the order, Wallamjinghun and Lariboklang were were appointed as contractual junior engineers on August 16, 2023, while Andrew and Moodifield joined on August 31, 2023, following advertisements issued on July 25 and August 22, 2023.
Wallamjinghun and Lariboklang’s services were regularised on January 24, 2025, while Andrew and Moodifield got their jobs regularised earlier on October 1, 2024, based on decisions taken by the KHADC executive committee.
In a similar manner, Dale-Mid-Gift and Saffiona were appointed as junior architects on October 26 and December 20, 2023, respectively, following the August 22, 2023 advertisement. Their services were regularised on October 1, 2024, and January 24, 2025, respectively.
In its ruling, the Single Bench of Justice Biswadeep Bhattacharjee observed that the impugned office order did not appear to include any notice or opportunity for the petitioners to be heard before their regularisation was revoked.
The court noted that although the order cited non-compliance with applicable rules as the reason, it failed to specify which rules were violated.
“…Given the circumstances, it is deemed appropriate to suspend the operation of the impugned order dated May 30, 2025, until the returnable date…,” the bench stated.
The High Court’s interim relief offers a temporary reprieve to the petitioners, who continue to serve the KHADC in various technical and architectural roles.
