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1,735 Chandigarh admn staffers hired on contract facing the axe
Last month, the central government had directed the Chandigarh administration to abolish all posts lying vacant for over 5 years, against which these employees were hired
In line with the central government’s guidelines issued last month, the UT administration is set to abolish 1,735 posts in its 40 departments, which will leave an equivalent number of contractual employees jobless by March 31.
As per the Centre’s guidelines, issued on January 4, any post lying vacant for five or more years will be abolished. Consequently, contractual employees working against these posts will be out of jobs. The guidelines also stated that the posts remaining vacant for the past five years will be re-advertised.
“The UT personnel department has sent a letter to all heads of departments, making it clear that no salary will be released to contractual employees after completion of their contractual period, which is March 31,” a senior UT officer said.
After a letter from the finance department, all departments have started preparing the list of contractual employees working against vacant posts for more than five years. The administration has even relieved some of the contractual employees.
In the wake of this development, the harried contractual staffers, most of them employed for over a decade, have appealed to UT administrator Banwarilal Purohit to pursue their case with the central government.
Contractual employees are drawing salaries ranging between ₹30,000 and ₹70,000.
As per UT records, 1,735 contractual employees are working against the sanctioned posts and another 2,970 posts have been filled through outsourced agencies. As many as 484 contractual employees are working in the UT education department, while 282 assistant professors are working in city colleges on contractual basis. The employees are in Groups A, B, C and D.
Bipin Sher Singh, chairman, All Contractual Karamchari Sangh, Chandigarh, said, “We request the administration to re-consider the decision, as most of these employees have been working for over a decade.”
He further demanded that on the lines of both Punjab and Haryana, UT should also create a special cadre for contractual employees for the continuation of their services till retirement.
