Srinagar, March 11 -- "..this Court is of the view that the appointment of the petitioners was solely on contractual basis, specifically made in response to the urgent needs arising from the COVID19 Pandemic," a bench of Justice Wasim Sadiq Nargal said. The petitioners along with others had been employed to run 500 bedded temporary Covid Hospitals one each at Jammu and Srinagar, in collaboration with Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO), Ministry of Defence, Government of India.

"This temporary engagement was part of the establishment of a temporary COVID hospital, which was set up to address the immediate health crisis caused by the pandemic. Given the exceptional nature of the emergency, the petitioners' services were d...