RAJ KUMAR
Ranchi, Nov.25: Outsourcing and Project Management Unit (PMU) in different departments have come up as the two tools to pave the path of contract appointment in the state as a high power committee of three IAS officers is sitting idle to take decisions on the matter of contractual employees working in different departments.
A section of secretariat staff told lagatar24.com that the government is indirectly promoting contract appointment after it realised that direct promotion is not possible due to the controversy taking place and ‘backdoor appointment effort’ tag on it.
“The same practice of contract appointment, which caused problems and compelled the Hemant Soren government to constitute a high power committee of three IAS officers to find out a way, still continues though in a different form,” one of the staff said.
General Secretary of Jharkhand Sachivalaya Seva Sangh (JSSS) Pikesh Kumar Singh supported the fact saying just the format of contract appointment has changed and not the contract appointment.
“You say the government has closed contract appointments barring a few cases but practically PMU and outsourcing has paved the way for contract appointments in more numbers. PMU is like creating a department within a department and appointing youths on contract basis on less payment with option to fire any time unlike regular government employees,” Singh said laughingly.
Notably, contract appointments for government jobs has always been a matter of concern.
Last month, the Jharkhand High Court took strong exception to this practice of contract appointment when a matter related to appointment of assistant professor cum junior scientist at the Birsa Agriculture University on contract basis.
The court stayed the process of contract appointment expressing its displeasure over the practice of contract even after 20 years of creation of Jharkhand.
Earlier on August 1, 2018, a division bench of the Supreme Court comprising Madan B. Lokur and Deepak Gupta gave a clear cut opinion to the state to consider making regular appointments.
“This is nothing but a form of exploitation of the employees by not giving them the benefits of regularization and by placing the sword of Damocles over their head,” the court while disposing of a case of a section of contract employees, who were struggling for their service regularization after working got more than 10 years, had observed
On Wednesday, the left party discussed the issue and expressed its concerns over the plight of contract workers besides discussing the poor scenario of job opportunity in the state. They also planned a Raj Bhawan March taking the problem on December 22.
