Contracts of over 1,200 employees not extended in Haryana

Service of over 1,200 contractual employees, including 252 post-graduate teachers (PGTS) recruited through the Haryana Kaushal Rozgar Nigam limited (HKRNL) were ended by the state government and their one-year contracts were not renewed citing that their posts were filled by permanent employees.

The government has removed HKRNL employees from the forest department in Jind, Fatehabad, Sonepat and other parts of the state. The contractual junior engineers recruited through HKRNL in the development and panchayat department were also removed from their posts in Karnal, Sonepat and Yamunanagar and they were asked to be relieved from their post.

As many as 1.20 lakh contractual employees are recruited under the Haryana Kaushal Rozgar Nigam limited, which was incorporated under the companies act, 2013 on October 13, 2021. The employees under the HKRNL are recruited against the permanent vacant posts and their contract renewed after 12 months.

The opposition Congress and the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) termed this move as ‘betrayal to the employees’ and slammed the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party government.

Sushil Beniwal, a post-graduate teacher of Mathematics in a school in Fatehabad said that she was among 252 teachers whose present place of posting is not vacant as the newly recruited permanent teachers assumed charge.

“I am going to the school daily to teach students. We are not sure whether the government will transfer us where the post is vacant or sack us. I am yet to receive any such order,” she added.

Sarwan Soni, a trained graduate teacher (Sanskrit) in a government school in Sirsa said that the government’s move has brought them on the road and their livelihoods are hampered.

“The government had promised not to sack contractual employees and assured us of job security during last year’s assembly polls. This is a big blow for us. The government must re-introspect and deploy us where the post is vacant,” Soni added.

In a letter Sonepat deputy director (forest department) informed seven HKRNL employees about termination of their service. “Your tenure started from April 1, 2024, expired on March 31. We have written about the extension of your contract for another year, but no reply was received from higher authorities. Your services in the department ended from March 31 (afternoon),” the letter reads.

In a statement, Sirsa MP and Congress senior leader Kumari Selja said that the chief minister Nayab Singh Saini had claimed that services of HKRNL employees, who had completed five years of service will be continued till they attain age of 58 and now the government has decided to sack them.

“The employees who have been sacked should be reinstated and they should be provided job security,” she added.

Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) supremo Abhay Singh Chautala said that the BJP government has ended service of over 1,200 contractual HKRNL employees and the government is planning to sack more employees.

When contacted, Haryana chief minister Nayab Singh Saini’s media advisor Ashok Chhabra said that the employees are removed from their place of posting as the newly permanent recruited persons joined their duty and two persons can’t be deployed for the same post. He further said that the government is exploring options to transfer them if the posts are vacant.