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Management of Kirori Mal College vs. Poonam Devi & Anr.

Writ Petition (Civil) · 2026:DHC:7893Decided 16 Sept 2026New Delhi Bench
W.P.(C) 8345/2002CNR: DLHC010271562002
Justice Amit Mahajan

Background

Poonam Devi was engaged by Kirori Mal College (Delhi University) between 1989 and 1992 on a series of purely temporary, ad-hoc appointments (as a Junior Assistant, then LDC, then Junior Laboratory Attendant), each explicitly time-limited or tied to a regular recruitment process. When the College eventually held a formal selection for the post, she herself applied but was not selected; her temporary services were then ended once the regularly selected candidate joined. She challenged this termination, and the Labour Court held it violated Section 25F of the Industrial Disputes Act (which requires notice/compensation before "retrenchment"), ordering her reinstatement with full back wages.

Decision Breakdown

The High Court held the Labour Court had wrongly assumed that simply completing 240 days of service automatically triggers the retrenchment-protection provisions, without first asking whether the termination fell within a specific legal exception (Section 2(oo)(bb)) for employees engaged for a fixed period or purpose whose engagement ends on schedule. Since Poonam Devi's appointment letters consistently described her role as temporary and tied to the pending regular recruitment, and she herself had unsuccessfully competed in that very recruitment, the Court found her case squarely fell within this exception: her termination was not "retrenchment" at all, so the notice/compensation requirements never applied. The Labour Court's award was set aside.

Lesson Learnt

Simply working for more than 240 days does not automatically entitle a temporary or ad-hoc employee to the legal protections against "retrenchment": if the appointment was always clearly temporary and tied to a pending regular selection process (which the employee even took part in and lost), ending that temporary role when the regular hire is made is lawful, not retrenchment.

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