BHUBANESWAR: Amid the row over outsourcing jobs, the Odisha government has made it clear that all departments must obtain the prior concurrence of the Finance department before engaging manpower through outside agencies.
In an official communication to all departments, the Finance department on Thursday stated its prior concurrence is mandatorily required for outsourcing appointments, even in light of recent amendments to financial power delegations.
While departments can execute contracts and sanction expenditure under the powers delegated through Rule 12 of the Delegation of Financial Power Rules, 1978, which was amended in March this year, this autonomy does not override the requirement of prior concurrence of the Finance department for initial outsourcing engagements, it said.
“The financial power is meant to be exercised to execute contracts and sanction expenditure. This is not to be misinterpreted as doing away with the mandatory requirement of obtaining prior concurrence of the Finance department,” it clarified.
However, the letter to the secretaries of all departments maintained that once the Finance department has approved an initial outsourcing proposal, further renewals of the same arrangement do not require fresh concurrence, provided the number of outsourced personnel remains unchanged. Any increase in manpower at the renewal stage will again necessitate prior approval, it added.
The state government, like several other states, has increasingly relied on outsourced manpower to meet staffing shortages in non-core areas over the past several years. The employment included data entry operators, drivers, support staff and security personnel, who are often managed through private manpower agencies.
Although it results in flexibility and cost control, outsourcing appointments has raised concerns over a lack of transparency, accountability, job insecurity and circumvention of existing recruitment norms.
“It will plug loopholes in interpretation and ensure uniform compliance across departments.Delegation of expenditure powers should not be confused with policy-level approvals,” an official said.