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Chandigarh allows contractual staff to continue till posts are filled
Departments may ascertain requirement against vacant posts or posts which have gone into the abolished category, a Chandigarh administration notice stated
In an interim relief for contractual employees, the UT administration on Monday allowed them — over 1,400 working with various departments — to continue to hold their position, but with certain conditions.
In compliance with Centre’s January guidelines, the administration has abolished regular posts that were not filled with regular employees for more than five years. The contractual employees filling in for these sanctioned posts were to lose their jobs after March 31.
According to a notification issued by the UT department of personnel on continuation of contractual engagement (on direct contract basis) in various departments, the department(s) may ascertain the functional requirement against vacant posts or posts which have fallen under the abolished category.
The department(s) will send the proposal to the line ministry concerned for creation/revival of the said abolished post(s). The said exercise must be completed within a week.
The notice further states that the person(s) who fulfil the eligibility criteria for the post may continue to be engaged on direct contract basis, subject to various conditions.
As per the department, regular recruitment is to be done against the alive and sanctioned post(s) at the earliest; and continuation of contractual engagement may be considered till regular incumbent(s) join. In case of abolished posts, the contractual engagement may be considered till the said post is revived/created and regular recruitment is made.
The engagement of the direct contractual employee(s) may be considered beyond the approved tenure, where functional requirements and administrative needs arise and regular recruitment is likely to take time. In such cases, prior concurrence of the finance department will be mandatory.
Budget under the wages head has been made available with the respective department in this regard. The remuneration of the contractual employee(s) will not be payable from the salary head. The remuneration will remain the same (including DA) as on date and will be governed in future as per terms of contract (except the condition pertaining to existence of vacant post).
The terms and conditions, however, will not apply to the autonomous bodies, boards, corporations, societies and councils etc.
All Contractual Karamchari Sangh chairperson Bipin Sher Singh said the UT administration has extended the deadline due to forthcoming Lok Sabha election, adding, “Now, the contractual employees are on a ventilator.”
The UT finance department had earlier on January 10 issued a circular for regular posts not being filled with regular employees for more than five years being abolished.
Nearly 1,425 contractual employees have been working with the UT administration, 235 with public sector undertaking and 75 with the civic body.
The UT finance department had sent a letter to the heads of all departments, making it clear that no salary will be released to the contractual employees after completion of their contractual period. Contractual employees are drawing salaries ranging from ₹30,000 to ₹70,000.
In a representation to UT administrator Banwarilal Purohit, the All Contractual Karamchari Sangh said the UT administration and municipal corporation have engaged thousands of qualified workers or contractual employees on sanctioned posts by following proper procedure and threatened a protest if they lose their jobs.
