Telangana: Dreams of contract employees fulfilled after decades of ordeal
Hyderabad: The travails of contract employees in the State came to an end on Wednesday, with Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao announcing regularisation of their jobs after overcoming numerous hurdles including legal complications. As a policy decision, the government will not entertain contract jobs hereafter, he said.
Due to the unscientific policies of successive governments in erstwhile Andhra Pradesh, a large number of contract employees employees were recruited over the years. For decades, they continued in their posts in the hope that the government would eventually regularise them. However, it remained a distant dream even as they were made to work on par with the regular employees, but for a meagre salary and without any additional benefits.
After State formation, the Telangana government inherited a large number of contract employees, a legacy of the united State. Observing that such a large number of contract employees under the government was not a desirable phenomenon, the Chandrashekhar Rao government brought in an amendment to the provisions of the Telangana (Regulation of Appointments to Public Services and Rationalisation of Staff Pattern and Pay Structure) Act, 1994, to regularise contract employees who were working as on June 2, 2014, subject to their eligibility and fulfilment of other conditions for appointment.
This process, however, was held up on account of Court litigations and an interim order passed by the Telangana High Court. Recently, the High Court dismissed the related writ petitions through an order dated December 7, 2021. There are 11,103 contract personnel working against the sanctioned posts and the government has decided to regularise the services of all such contract personnel who are eligible for regularisation. The same was announced by the Chief Minister in the Assembly on Wednesday.
Expressing their gratitude to the Chief Minister for regularising their services, the contract employees stated that the latter took a remarkable decision which was in recognition of the services rendered by the contract employees. “We have been working for the last 22 years, since 2000, with low salaries. While successive governments in united AP ignored us, Chandrashekhar Rao took note of our plight and secured our future by regularising our services. It is a memorable day in the lives of contract lecturers and their families,” Ch Kanakachandram, chairman of Telangana State Joint Action Committee and Contract Lecturers Association told Telangana Today.
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