Placement Agency No Bar to 2022 Contractual Rules: Raj HC

Placement-Agency Engagement Alone Cannot Exclude Swachh Bharat Contract Staff From 2022 Hiring Rules: Rajasthan High Court

Published: 1 November 2026 · NyayVidhan

The Rajasthan High Court allowed three writ petitions by seven contractual staff, led by a Swachh Bharat Mission Block Coordinator in Bharatpur district, displaced during an extended engagement when ARAVALI proposed others in their place (paras 1-5, 33). Engagement through a placement agency cannot by itself exclude them from the Rajasthan Contractual Hiring to Civil Posts Rules, 2022 (paras 21-24). Their displacement was quashed, and their eligibility under Rule 3 must be decided within six weeks (para 33).

Key holdings

A policy to phase out placement agencies does not permit arbitrary displacement of existing contractual staff while the posts and work continue (paras 17-19).

Engagement through a placement agency is not, by itself, a ground to deny coverage of the 2022 Rules; Rule 3 decides coverage (paras 23-24).

The safeguards of Rules 18 and 19 apply only once the employee is found to fall within Rule 3 (para 25).

Lack of a show-cause notice does not automatically invalidate every contractual termination; that depends on the rules, the contract terms and the action (para 31).

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Brief Facts

The lead petitioner joined as Block Coordinator under the Zila Swachhta Mission, Zila Parishad, Bharatpur, on 16 December 2020. An order of 23 May 2025 extended his engagement to 31 March 2026 and provided for obtaining such staff through ARAVALI, an autonomous government NGO (para 3). ARAVALI's communications of 24 and 29 December 2025 proposed another person in his place, and he says he was kept from work without any written order or notice (paras 4-5). The State said he was engaged and paid through a placement agency, was never its employee, and that a 2025-26 budget policy was gradually ending such engagements; it denied that the 2022 Rules applied (paras 6-8, 12-13).

Court's Findings

A contractual engagement gives no indefeasible right to continue, but the State's contractual power remains subject to Article 14 (para 14). The petitioner had served since December 2020, with an extension for 2025-26 and certificates of satisfactory service; no complaint was disclosed, the post was not abolished, and others were being identified for the same posts (paras 16-17). Lawfully ending a contractual arrangement differs from arbitrarily displacing an employee while the same services continue through another person (para 18), and a policy to phase out agencies does not permit arbitrary displacement (para 19). The State produced neither the agency agreement nor any term allowing the displacement (para 20). Following Rodu Lal, the mode of engagement is not conclusive: coverage depends on Rule 3, including creation of the post with Finance Department concurrence and selection by public advertisement, and Rules 18 and 19 apply only once Rule 3 is met (paras 22-25). Rakesh Kumar, on the absence of privity of contract, did not decide that question (para 26). Under Piara Singh, a temporary employee should not ordinarily be replaced by another of the same character except in accordance with law (para 27).

Legal Principle

Contractual staff engaged through a placement agency cannot be excluded from the Rajasthan Contractual Hiring to Civil Posts Rules, 2022 merely because of that mode of engagement; their eligibility must be examined under Rule 3. Displacing them during an extended engagement in favour of other contractual persons, without a lawful basis, cannot stand (paras 23-24, 30, 32).

NyayVidhan's view · Practice note

Why It Matters

Departments moving contractual posts to a new sourcing agency should note the sequence this judgment sets: before existing staff are replaced, each person's case must be examined against Rule 3 of the 2022 Rules, and engagement through a placement agency is not, on its own, an answer (paras 23-24, 33). Staff should keep their extension orders, service certificates and the advertisement through which they were selected, because coverage turns on how the post was created and filled (paras 16, 23). Contract terms matter too; here the State never produced the agency agreement or any term permitting the displacement (para 20). Compare Sandeep Yadav, where appointment terms expressly allowing termination without reasons left contractual staff no right to continue.

Editorial comment by the NyayVidhan Editorial Desk. It is not part of the Court's judgment and is not legal advice.

Precedents Relied Upon

Rodu Lal & Others v. The State of Rajasthan & Others D.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 11737/2024 & other connected writ petitions, judgment dated 26.08.2025 (Principal Seat, Jodhpur)
Followed Discussed at ¶ 11, 22-25
Cited by the petitioners' counsel (para 11). The Division Bench held that Rule 3 of the Rajasthan Contractual Hiring to Civil Posts Rules, 2022 must be read harmoniously, so that contractual personnel engaged through placement agencies after a public advertisement are not denied the Rules merely because of the mode of engagement, subject to the Rule 3 conditions; its paragraphs were reproduced (para 22). The Court followed it: the mode of engagement is not conclusive, the claims must be examined under Rule 3 as interpreted in Rodu Lal, and Rules 18 and 19 apply only once Rule 3 is satisfied (paras 23-25).
Rakesh Kumar & Others v. State of Rajasthan & Others D.B. Special Appeal (Writ) No. 1040/2021 and connected matters, judgment dated 20.12.2021
Distinguished Discussed at ¶ 12, 26
Cited by the respondents (para 12). The Court accepted its principle that, on the agreement before it, there was no privity of contract between the Government and individuals supplied by a service provider, but held that it must be applied in its own context and does not address whether contractual employees engaged through placement agencies can be excluded from the 2022 Rules merely because of the mode of engagement (para 26).
State of Haryana v. Piara Singh (1992) 4 SCC 118
Applied Discussed at ¶ 27
Cited for the principle that an ad hoc or temporary employee should not ordinarily be replaced by another employee of the same temporary character except in accordance with law, to prevent arbitrary displacement; the Court noted that it confers no right to permanent employment and does not prevent a lawful change in the mode of engagement (para 27), and applied it to the petitioners' displacement (paras 28-32).