Chandigarh (Balwinder Singh) – Haryana Chief Minister Sh. Nayab Singh Saini on Monday said the Opposition appears to have developed a “phobia” of the Haryana Kaushal Rozgar Nigam (HKRN). Taking a dig at the Opposition, he said for Congress HKRN means “Haye, Kala Raj Nahin Laye”. He said HKRN is not a substitute for regular government employment, but an alternative arrangement to ensure that essential services are not affected while regular recruitment is underway.
The Chief Minister was speaking in the Vidhan Sabha during a discussion on a Calling Attention Motion concerning the Haryana Kaushal Rozgar Nigam.
‘Bharti Roko Gang’ Delays Recruitments by Taking Them to Court
The Chief Minister said departments send vacancies to the Haryana Public Service Commission and the Haryana Staff Selection Commission, following which the respective Commissions advertise the posts and undertake recruitment in accordance with the prescribed procedure. He said it was unfortunate that whether recruitment is undertaken through the Haryana Staff Selection Commission or the Haryana Public Service Commission, the “Bharti Roko Gang” makes attempts to take the process to court. Judicial proceedings take time and, as a result, recruitments are often delayed.
Referring to a recently declared recruitment result, the Chief Minister said that the day after the result was announced, he had a programme in Punhana. He checked the result to see how many youths from Punhana had been selected and found that 29 youths from Punhana town alone had secured selection.
He said this reflected the transparent manner in which the government is functioning. Today, confidence among the State’s youth has increased, while their parents too have greater faith that their children can secure opportunities on merit. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Sh. Narendra Modi, he said, the BJP government has strengthened this confidence among the youth, said Sh. Nayab Singh Saini.
Responding to the Opposition’s demand to shut down HKRN, the Chief Minister said they were unable to see the happiness of poor families whose children had secured employment through the system and brought hope and light into their homes.
Opposition Should Not Turn a Blind Eye to Exploitation of Employees during Its Own Tenure: CM
Responding to the issue raised regarding guest teachers, the Chief Minister told Sh. Ashok Arora that the Opposition should not turn a blind eye to what happened during its own tenure. He said the House had already been given a detailed account of the extent to which employees were exploited under the earlier system. Deductions were made even from the money due to employees and there was no effective mechanism to hear their grievances. Under the present government, he said, payments are transferred directly into employees’ bank accounts.
Government Sees Poor as Its Crown, Opposition as Just a Vote Bank- CM
On the issue of awarding marks on the basis of income, the Chief Minister said the government’s approach has always been to create opportunities for poor families. For our government, the poor are the crown of the government, while for the opposition, they are nothing more than a vote bank, he said.
Sh. Nayab Singh Saini said that in Group-D recruitment, a criterion had been introduced to award five additional marks to a candidate from a poor family in which no member held a government job. The provision was challenged before the court, following which the government had to withdraw the benefit of the five additional marks and a decision to this effect was taken by the Cabinet, he said.
The Chief Minister said poor families remained at the heart of the government’s priorities. The government understands the hopes of parents who want their children to get an opportunity and bring a better future to the family. It is with this objective, he said, that income-based weightage has been provided under the HKRN framework.
Reservation Provisions Duly Followed in HKRN
The Chief Minister said the Opposition had also raised the contention that there was no reservation in HKRN and demanded that the Nigam be shut down. He clarified that following the establishment of HKRN, the deployment process has been made entirely rule-based, structured and linked with prescribed criteria. Reservation provisions have been incorporated into the deployment process in accordance with the rules, policies and instructions issued by the Haryana Government, he said.
The Chief Minister said 28,350 new employees have been deployed through HKRN. These include 4,548 employees in Level-I, 9,577 in Level-II and 14,225 in Level-III. Of these 28,350 employees, 6,788 belong to the Scheduled Castes, accounting for 23.94 per cent against the prescribed share of 20 per cent. Similarly, 8,128 employees belong to the Backward Classes, accounting for 28.67 per cent against the prescribed share of 27 per cent. He said these figures clearly establish that reservation provisions have been duly followed.
The Chief Minister assured the House that the government is fully sensitive to the interests of contractual employees and wherever any practical difficulty arises, it will be addressed in accordance with the rules.
Entire Deployment Process Online and Traceable
The Chief Minister said the contention that vacancies under HKRN are not properly advertised or that there is no clarity regarding the number of vacancies is completely baseless. The entire deployment process is conducted online on the basis of manpower requirements submitted by departments. Deployment is neither carried out behind closed doors nor on the basis of personal recommendations, he said, adding that the entire process is online and traceable.
HKRN Has Never Been Projected as Regular Government Employment
The Chief Minister said the purpose of HKRN is to bring employees out of the clutches of contractors and middlemen and place them within an organised and institutional framework. He said the Nigam has never been projected as a means of providing regular government employment. Its objective is to provide a better and more organised framework to employees who earlier faced exploitation under the contractor-based system. He said the selection criteria and eligibility parameters are in the public domain and available through the online system.
Referring to employees working in universities, the Chief Minister said an alternative arrangement exists there as well, while the process for regular recruitment continues. He made it clear that deployment through HKRN is not permanent. The policy itself provides that whenever a regular employee is appointed, the employee deployed through HKRN has to vacate the post.
The Chief Minister said the allegation that breaks are deliberately imposed in service to deprive employees of their benefits is also incorrect. A clear cut-off date of August 15, 2024 has been prescribed in this regard. The legitimate benefits of an eligible employee cannot be arbitrarily withdrawn merely on the basis of a technical or procedural break.
He said that if any Member had a genuine case concerning delayed wages or denial of any benefit, complete details of the employee concerned, the department, the period for which payment was pending and the benefit in question should be placed on the Table of the House. The government, he said, is prepared to examine and resolve every genuine case.
The Chief Minister further said that under the present system, no contractor can take away a portion of an employee’s wages. Employees are receiving their full wages and will continue to do so.
All Eligible Employees to Get Service Security within Two Months
The Chief Minister said that as of 10 am on August 31, a total of 62,497 applications had been received on the Service Security Portal. Of these, 55,077 applications have been approved by DDOs, while 27,896 applications have been approved by Heads of Departments. Employees registered on the portal will soon receive their service security letters online. He assured the House that within the next two months, not a single eligible employee would remain without service security.
Prescribed SOP and Institutional Mechanism in Place for Grievance Redressal
The Chief Minister said the contention that employees have no forum for lodging complaints, filing appeals or seeking redressal is also incorrect. A prescribed Standard Operating Procedure and an institutional mechanism are in place under HKRN for grievance redressal. Resolution of a grievance, he said, does not depend upon the favour of any individual or political recommendation.
He said the contention that employees are arbitrarily relieved without notice or inquiry is also incorrect. A prescribed SOP and due process are in place for disciplinary action, with institutional scrutiny and accountability built into the system.
Issue Concerning Articles 14 and 16 Sub Judice before High Court
The Chief Minister said the Opposition had also raised the question of violation of Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution. The matter is presently under consideration before the High Court. When a matter is sub judice, he said, it is not appropriate to pronounce political conclusions upon it or declare it constitutionally invalid even before a judicial determination has been made.
He said the government has the highest regard for the judiciary and will abide by the decision of the Hon’ble High Court. Repeatedly turning a pending judicial matter into a political issue merely for political gain, he said, is neither consistent with constitutional propriety nor with the dignity of the House.
HKRN Not a Political Experiment, but a Step towards a Transparent and Contractor-Free System
The Chief Minister said HKRN is not a political experiment, but an effort to make manpower deployment transparent, online, institutional and contractor-free. He said the government’s principle is clear: the system will function according to rules, not on anyone’s recommendation; through an institutional mechanism, not at the mercy of a contractor; and through a transparent online process, not through a “parchi”.
The Chief Minister said that if any employee has genuinely suffered injustice, the government will hear the grievance and resolve it. However, a transparent system should not be discredited on the basis of charges unsupported by facts. This, he said, is good governance, accountability and the government’s commitment.
