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Delhi govt blacklists 207 firms from its job portal for demanding money from aspirants
The portal was launched by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on July 27, with the aim of helping those who had lost their jobs during the nationwide lockdown imposed on March 25 in view of Covid-19 and also for boosting the national capital’s economy.
The Delhi government has blacklisted at least 207 registered employers from its job portal Rozgar Bazar for allegedly demanding money from job seekers whom they contacted through the platform, said a senior Delhi government official in the know of the matter.
The portal was launched by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on July 27, with the aim of helping those who had lost their jobs during the nationwide lockdown imposed on March 25 in view of Covid-19 and also for boosting the national capital’s economy.
More than 1.25 million net job seekers (those still awaiting employment) and 44,440 employers are registered on the portal and there are 826,603 net job openings (those that are still open) as on Wednesday, said the senior official quoted above.
Through feedback forms in the portal , the government had received complaints that some employees were charging money from aspirants, the official said. An inquiry into this was ordered by deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, who also holds the labour and employment portfolio.
The minutes of a meeting chaired by Sisodia on October 8, which HT has seen, read: “It was informed that some complaints have been received wherein money has been demanded from job seekers by the employers who are registered on Rozgar portal… It was informed that the complaints are examined. The minister then directed that the name of such employers may be deleted from (the) portal after due examination.”
A Delhi government spokesperson said, “There is a feedback mechanism in place for job seekers registered on the portal. Through this mechanism, we received information about some potential employers charging money from applicants. The checks and balances on our part have allowed us to blacklist 207 registered employers from the portal so far. We have directed further inquiry into the matter and sought the help of our legal team as well.”
“The quality team helps validate that there are no spam job postings, and the team closely follows up on all jobs postings to ensure a win-win experience for both the job seeker and employer,” the spokesperson said.
Another government official , also on condition of anonymity, said the most sought-after jobs are in the sectors of business and marketing development, data entry, customer support services, accounting, and domestic services such as plumbers, electricians, gardeners, etc.
The second official further said, “This is a platform to connect job seekers with potential employers. It maintains data of net job openings and also of job entries closed. Entries may be closed to those who are already hired or shortlisted from the portal, from outside the portal or when the employer withdraws the position. There is no separate data maintained specifically on people hired through the portal.”
This method of data management is similar to that done at job fairs organised by the government over the past five years, the official said.
