PATNA: In a step that may bring him rich rewards in the coming elections, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday said that employees working with the state government on a contractual basis would get benefits at par with regular staff.
Nearly five lakh contractual employees in about 30 departments of the state government, who had been demanding for years that their services be regularised, would be benefited by the move. A committee headed by former state chief secretary Ashok Kumar Chaudhary had recommended in its report earlier this month that contractual employees be given benefits at par with regular staff.
“I have asked the departments concerned to implement the positive recommendations made by a high-level committee. Prominent among the recommendations are about fixing the salary, leaves and provident fund,” said Kumar in his Independence Day speech at Patna’s historic Gandhi Maidan.
Sources said the committee, which submitted its report on August 7, had recommended retirement age of 60 years for contractual employees, fixing of their dearness allowances as per their basic salary, and assured promotion in every ten years.
Other benefits for them recommended by the committee include medical and housing allowances, casual and earned leaves at par with regular employees and leave travel allowance (LTA) every four years, said the sources. Five months of maternity leave and three months of paternity leave are also among the recommendations, they added.
"The committee has made it clear that no recruitment of employees for government departments would henceforth be made without the direct and total involvement of the departments,” said an official familiar with the recommendations.
Significantly, teachers employed on contractual basis across Bihar have been kept outside the purview of these recommendations. The state government refused to follow Patna High Court’s order last year that contractual teachers be paid salaries at par with regular teachers. The case is currently being heard in the Supreme Court.