The Uttarakhand High Court has struck down a 31-year-old notification that barred the hiring of contract workers at Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) Limited. A single-judge bench, led by Justice Pankaj Purohit, ruled that the 1994 notification issued by the Centre was invalid as it failed to follow mandatory consultation under Section 10 of the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970.
ONGC had challenged the notification, contending that the Central Advisory Contract Labour Board was not consulted and that the decision relied on a subcommittee report examining only four of the corporation’s 34 units. The Centre argued that the notification had been issued through due process. However, the court found that the lack of proper consultation and limited scrutiny rendered the notification unsustainable.
The bench cited multiple Supreme Court rulings, emphasizing that compliance with Section 10(2) is mandatory and any violation renders such notifications invalid. This landmark decision now allows ONGC to hire contract workers without legal constraints stemming from the three-decade-old prohibition.
