Punjab govt inches ahead with regularisation of 45,000 contractual employees

The Punjab government has formed a committee for framing a comprehensive policy for the regularisation of about 45,000 contractual employees in the state. Chief Minister Amarinder Singh Wednesday evening ordered the constitution of a committee headed by a retired officer Dilsher Kalha, said an official release here on Thursday.

The committee will examine all the major aspects of such a policy, including its administrative, financial and legal implications, it said. Secretary Personnel and Secretary Finance, along with a nominee of the Advocate General's office, would be the other members of the committee, the release said.

The committee will submit its report within 90 days to the cabinet sub-committee, headed by Health Minister Brahm Mahindra, for the final decision. The cabinet sub-committee also comprises finance minister and the minister of the concerned department to which the employees belong as members. Though the Punjab cabinet on Wednesday had approved the regularisation of services of 5,178 teachers and 650 nurses, the chief minister felt that it was necessary to have a holistic and wide-ranging policy on board to deal with the problem of the 51,000-odd contractual employees, whom the previous regime had failed to regularise, the release said.

Given the tight fiscal situation it had inherited from the previous SAD-BJP dispensation, the government was forced to delay the regularisation of these employees till things improved on the fiscal front, it further said.

Contractual employees, working in various state government departments, have been demanding regularisation of their services. They had even threatened to launch a stir if their demand was not met.

(With inputs from agencies.)