HC pulls up HP govt over outsourcing policy, seeks presence of top officials

Shimla: Taking exception to the state govt's continued reliance on outsourced employees rather than providing regular employment, the Himachal Pradesh high court has directed the principal secretary (finance) and secretary (health) to appear personally before the court on the next date of hearing.The court also took note of the govt's failure to provide complete data regarding the outsourced appointments."Effectively concentrated effort is being made to ensure that there is no recruitment on a regular basis to fill up the vacant posts, but a backdoor entry is being opened for the purposes best known to the powers that may be," remarked the division bench of the high court comprising Chief Justice Gurmeet Singh Sandhawalia and Justice Bipin Chander Negi.The court was hearing a group of petitions challenging the govt's outsourcing policy and the alleged irregularities in recruitment.The bench also expressed displeasure over the state's stand that complete records of outsourced employees were not centrally available with the finance department.The court reiterated that outsourcing could only be used in exceptional situations and not as a substitute for regular recruitment. It also observed that large-scale outsourcing deprived workers of statutory rights while benefiting outsourcing agencies.The bench also observed that the high court had already resolved in August 2025 not to engage employees on a daily-wage, part-time, or contract basis. Fake Service ProvidersThe bench further noticed that the petitioners had sought directions for a criminal investigation by the special investigating team (SIT), to be headed by a retired Supreme Court or high court judge, into the matter of 110 fake service-providing companies in the state."Prima facie, we are of the considered opinion that having employed 17,114 employees without adopting a fair selection process, the benefit is going to outsourcing agencies, and a case is made out, but we stay our hands only because the apex court directed vide order dated March 17, 2025, to decide the case on merit, firstly," expressed the bench.The partial data submitted to the court so far revealed that as many as 17,114 persons had been engaged through outsourcing across 42 establishments in the state, including the high court, judicial academy, govt departments, public sector undertakings and autonomous institutions, the bench observed.Among the major departments, 2,578 outsourced employees were working under the directorate of medical education and research, 1,473 in the power corporation, 803 in the agriculture directorate, 793 in Agriculture University Palampur, 632 in rural development and 630 in the office of the director general of police. Unsatisfactory ExplanationAn affidavit filed by the special secretary (finance), Saurabh Jassal, stated that data compilation was delayed because information regarding outsourced personnel was spread across various departments, boards, corporations, and autonomous bodies, and reminders had been sent to the respective departments.The bench, however, observed that the explanation was unsatisfactory, especially since policy guidelines issued by the finance department in July 2017 clearly mandated that departmental outsourcing could only be undertaken with govt approval under the Himachal Pradesh Financial Rules, 2009.The court further took serious note of the govt's failure to disclose how many regular staff nurse posts had been filled despite earlier directions. The court also observed that around 750 posts of staff nurses were lying vacant as of July 2024, but only 28 regular posts were advertised in Dec that year.MSID:: 131262606 413 |