Regularisation benefits for 9 categories of employees | Formal SRO in couple of days: Drabu

TNN Bureau. Updated: 12/15/2017 11:25:30 AM Front Page

JAMMU: The significant move announced yesterday by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti of regularising services of daily wagers, an issue pending for nearly two decades, will be benefitting thousands of such appointees in around nine categories.

The decision, seen as a major respite to around 60000 employees, will benefit Daily Rated, Casual, Seasonal, HDF and Local Fund Workers, NYCs, Land Donors, SPOs and Adhoc/Contractual appointees left-out under the J&K Civil Services (Special Provisions) Act-2010 for want of eligibility criteria, an official handout in this regard informed.

While such employees in PHE Department can have their hopes elevated, being the highest in number, those in other departments viz. Power Development Department, School Education Department, Public Works Department, Irrigation & Flood Control Department, Forest Department, Health & Medical Education Department, Agriculture Department, Housing & Urban Development Department, Tourism Department, Animal Husbandry Department and Fisheries Department-in sequence will also be benefitted from the regularization scheme.

With the process for regularisation firmed-up, the finance department is likely to issue the formal orders in this regard soon and these workers will be categorized as skilled and non-skilled, on the basis of their educational, technical and professional profile.

“Along with the imbursement of remuneration, they will be entitled to all the financial and service benefits including annual pay hike, pension under NPS, leave & medical reimbursement, periodical hike in remuneration akin to pay commission, maintenance of service records and will be covered under work, conduct and discipline rules including retirement,” a Finance Department official said on Thursday.

Meanwhile, asserting that government will take holistic review of SRO-202, Minister for Finance, Dr Haseeb Drabu said that the formal SRO in this regard will be issued by the Finance Department within a couple of days.

Although skilled and unskilled workers are to be put in different scales of remuneration, it will correspondingly increase on the basis of their length of engagement. Regarding the number of Workers to be benefitted by the regularization scheme, Finance Department officials said, although various figures are being projected regarding their number, but the exact number will be determined and finalized through bio-metric verification of every such worker.

Dr Drabu had during the last budget session made a commitment on the floor of the house that the process for regularization of casual workers of various categories will start from the next financial year in terms of the set guidelines and criteria.

Pertinently, the state cabinet had, on October 23 this year, accepted the roadmap prepared by the high-level committee headed by the Chief Secretary for absorption/regularization of Casual/Seasonal Labourers/ Daily Rated Workers to ensure sustainable livelihood to hundreds of such Workers engaged over a period of several years. The cabinet had asked the Finance Department to draft and issue the formal orders for operationalization of the roadmap.

Dr Drabu said policy enshrined in SRO-64 of 1994 for regularization of daily rated workers/work-charged employees engaged prior to cut off date of January 31, 1994 is already in place from the date of issuance of the SRO-64.

He said the Empowered Committee of the is meeting at regular intervals and will continue to meet till last one of the adhoc/contractual appointee, eligible and registered with the Finance Department is cleared for regularization, if eligible, in terms of the J&K Civil Services (Special Provisions) Act-2010.

Dr Drabu said the Government is also taking a holistic review of SRO-202 which was issued on 30 June 2015. As per this SRO the appointees in non-gazetted cadre are entitled to basic minimum pay and grade pay during the first five years of the service.












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