Only 30% of 36K employees may be regularised in Punjab

Ruchika M Khanna

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 29

The Punjab Protection and Regularisation of Contractual Employees Bill is likely to fall far short of the target of regularising the services of 36,000 employees.

Rs872.87 crore burden

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The annual financial implication will be around Rs872.87 cr and total additional liability for first three years is Rs407.80 cr on account of regularising the services of Group C and D staff working on ad hoc, contract, daily wage, temporary and work-charged basis

Most don’t fit bill

The govt criteria excludes a majority of staff and less than 30% of the 36,000 will benefit, as most were hired under different schemes. — Ashish Julaha, Leader, Contractual Employees Action Committee

Even as the Bill, after being passed in the Vidhan Sabha earlier this month and being vetted by the Legal Department, is now being sent to the Governor for his assent, the criteria specified in the Bill for regularisation of services will exclude most of these employees.

This is creating unease among contract staff, who, for years, have been fighting for regularisation of jobs. Opposition parties in the state, too, have been taking a dig at the government, as billboards announcing the regularisation in services of 36,000 employees have been put up across the state.

Outsourced employees are not being considered, nor are the those who are working on a contract basis in various boards and corporations of the state. Even those employees who are employed on a contract basis on posts that are co-terminus with the life of a project or scheme of state or the Centre, won’t be considered for regularisation. Those who will be considered should have been employed on contract basis for at least 10 years, and should be working on Group C or D posts.

Ashish Julaha, leader, Contractual Employees Action Committee, said though they had been repeatedly asking the state Personnel Department to share the list of employees whose services were to be regularised, the latter was unwilling to oblige.

Officers in department said the issue of enacting the law, after getting the Governor’s nod, was discussed at a meeting last evening. “The Bill has been vetted by the office of Legal Remembrancer, and has been sent to the CMO, for being sent further to the Governor for assent, which is required as it is a Money Bill. The government has sought a list of all employees who fit the criteria, as specified in the Bill, from all departments. Based on this, the services of all employees will be regularised, once the Governor okays it,” said a senior officer in the department, while refusing to share the number of beneficiaries.

A senior officer in the Chief Minister’s Office told The Tribune this was not a one-time regularisation. “As and when these employees complete 10 years of service, they will be considered,” he said.