MUMBAI: Vacancies in all departments and verticals of private companies may soon have to be mandatorily notified to govt, signalling a shift in employment regulation.
The Centre plans to replace the Employment Exchanges (Compulsory Notification of Vacancies) Act, 1959, with the new Social Securities Act, in order to formalise a mechanism for disseminating information on job vacancies and introduce steep penalties for non-compliance —govt wants to hike fines, which were once a negligible Rs 100, to as high as Rs 50,000.
“We have employment exchanges, but they have become defunct. With the changes in the Act, we will revive and strengthen them to ensure companies inform the state about vacancies,” said Mangal Prabhat Lodha, state minister for skill education, employment, and entrepreneurship. Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Lodha said nominal penalties of Rs 100-500 have discouraged companies from reporting vacancies, a practice that will change under the revamped law.
Currently, most companies post their vacancies on employment-oriented social media platforms like LinkedIn. It is not clear why the govt wants to duplicate this effort. To ease compliance, the govt plans to develop a state-specific job portal for companies to list their openings. This initiative, according to the minister, forms part of a broader 100-day action plan.