HC asks Forest Corporation chief to decide on 42 workers

Dehradun: Uttarakhand HC disposed of a petition filed by 42 workers engaged through outsourcing in Uttarakhand Forest Development Corporation, whose services were discontinued in June 2024, and asked them to approach the competent authority in the corporation through a formal representation on the issue of re-engagement.In its March 13 order, the single bench of Justice Manoj Kumar Tiwari did not issue any direction for immediate re-engagement. HC disposed of the petition with liberty to the workers to submit a representation to the competent authority and said that if such a representation was made within two weeks, a decision on it must be taken within eight weeks thereafter. HC also said it would be open to the petitioners to raise the issue of unpaid salary, if any, in the same representation.The petitioners told HC that after their disengagement, the managing director of the corporation wrote to the principal secretary, forest, on May 13, 2024, seeking guidance on whether they could be re-engaged. They said the state govt later allowed the competent authority in the corporation to take an appropriate decision at its own level, but no decision followed.Appearing for the petitioners, counsel said, "Both work and posts are available, and there is no impediment to their re-engagement." He argued that even after the state govt cleared the matter for a decision by the corporation's competent authority, the issue remained unresolved.Uttarakhand Forest Development Corporation opposed the plea and said the petitioners should first have approached the managing director instead of moving HC directly. Its counsel argued, "If the petitioners are aggrieved by their non-engagement, they ought to first approach the MD."