I have a different opinion from what is stated by Abedeen. There is no automatic confirmation. An employee on probation is said to be on probation oonly so long as he has been communicated that he has been confirmed. Please follow the verdicts in Dinesh Kumar Mishra Vs. Union of India and ohd. Salman Vs Management Committee, and a lot of other verdicts including the one reported last month, viz, Amarnath Menokodath Remanan Vs The Chairman National Institute of Jewellery Design and others (2013 LLR 1125) in which the courts have clarified that a probationer cannot claim automatic confirmation even if he continues to perform his duties after the expiry of probationary period in the absence of any specific clause in the appointment order that he will be confirmed automatically.
Therefore, if the performance of the said employee is not up to the expectation, you can either extend the probation now or even terminate him. But while terminating please do not say the reason for termination, like " since your performance is not up to the expected level your service is hereby terminated", but just say that following clause....of the contract of employment/ appointment order, you are hereby terminated from service. In the formal case you will be inviting complications because, if you have a reason behind termination, you should have informed the employee of that reason and should have sought clarifications from him, say if the performance is bad, you should have given him warning and given him opportunities to improve his performance and termination "on the ground" of poor performance which was not communicated, will be illegal. I do not remember the case to this point, but there was a case in which a Reader or Professor of a University in Tamil nadu, if I am right(I believe Madras University only) was terminated on the ground of plagiarism during his probation period where the charge or ground of termination was stated to be plagiarism for which no memo was given and enquiry was conducted, at the same time the employer has every right to terminate a probationer without any REASON. That means if there is any REASON behind termination the employee should be aware of it and the reason should be established beyond doubt.
Regards,
Madhu.T.K