BENGALURU: Close to one lakh posts in various departments of the Karnataka government are being handled by outsourced employees. One of the main reasons for this is the government’s failure to fill up vacancies.
The state government now has 5.2 lakh permanent staff in 72 departments, boards and corporations, while there are 2.5 lakh vacancies.
These vacant posts are the ones that have been filled with contract employees. Though such hiring cuts costs for the government as benefits are not paid to them like regular employees, there is a serious lack of accountability.
“If such staff get involved in corruption or commit mistakes, the government cannot conduct a departmental inquiry. Since they are not permanent employees, they are not scared of consequences of their wrongful actions,” said a senior official, requesting anonymity.
Of the 96,844 outsourced employees, close to 16,000 are with the Agriculture Department and lack of regular employees could impact the delivery of government programmes to farmers.
Animal husbandry and Backward Classes Welfare departments too have a large number of contract employees. Former Law Minister Suresh Kumar told TNIE that the government is encouraging exploitation in the name of outsourcing.
‘Should get better work done for lesser cost’
“Equal job, equal pay is just a slogan. A person recruited by the government and the other hired on contract basis have a huge disparity in their salaries, though they perform same tasks. If close to one lakh people have been outsourced, it means that recruitment agencies are making money. This has to stop,’’ the law minister said.
The present government wanted to put an end to outsourcing. In fact, it wanted to table the Karnataka Prohibition of Private Outsourcing in Government Entities Bill during the recently concluded winter session. If it had been passed, the Bill would have put an end to engaging private agencies to recruit outsourced employees.
Legislation also had a provision to punish offenders. “But that did not happen, and the Bill was not tabled during the Belagavi session. The government is under pressure from the Finance Department and private hiring agencies not to pass the Bill,” said sources in the government.
A senior officer who earlier worked with the Finance Department said outsourcing is economical. “These employees are more willing to work and are more accountable, as they can be removed from their jobs at any given moment, unlike regular staff, who know they cannot be removed for nonperformance or under-performance. It’s good to have a mix . At any rate, most contract workers are all not in sensitive posts. We should encourage this and get better work done for lesser cost,’’ the official said.