Administrative authorities directed to decide representation regarding non-renewal of contractual services within a stipulated period.

The twenty-two petitioners were engaged as Employment Assistants (Rojgar Sahayak) starting January 23, 2021

Their appointments were subject to periodic renewals; however, the petitioners alleged that their services were not renewed after November 2025, despite their continued work at their respective posts

Seeking redressal, the petitioners submitted a formal representation to Respondent No. 3 (Chief Executive Officer, Janpad Panchayat Bastar) on March 12, 2026

When the authorities failed to take a decision on the said representation, the petitioners approached the High Court of Chhattisgarh via a writ petition seeking directions for the renewal of their services

Whether the Court should direct the respondent authorities to consider and decide upon the pending representation regarding the renewal of the petitioners' services as Employment Assistants

The Court exercised its discretionary jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India (Writ Petition Service).

It applied the administrative law principle of "duty to act," which mandates that competent authorities must consider and decide upon representations submitted by aggrieved employees in a time-bound and lawful manner

The Court perused the documents and noted that the petitioners’ primary grievance remained pending before the administrative authorities

Rather than adjudicating the merits of the service renewal—which falls under the administrative purview of the Janpad Panchayat and the Collector—the Court focused on the procedural delay in handling the petitioners' representation

The Court reasoned that since a representation dated March 12, 2026, was already on record, the interests of justice would be served by directing the executive respondents to perform their statutory/administrative duty

By setting a timeline of four weeks, the Court sought to ensure that the petitioners received a definitive legal outcome regarding their employment status without further delay

The Court directed Respondent No. 2 (The Collector, Jagdalpur) and Respondent No. 3 (The CEO, Janpad Panchayat Bastar) to consider and take a decision on the petitioners' representation dated March 12, 2026, in accordance with the law

The Court ordered that this decision be made expeditiously, preferably within four weeks from the date of receipt of the court’s order