Shimla: In a significant ruling, the Himachal Pradesh High Court has banned outsourced recruitment through the Electronics Corporation, citing concerns over the integrity of the process. The division bench, comprising Acting Chief Justice Tarlok Singh Chauhan and Justice Satyen Vaidya, has directed that no further outsourced recruitments will be allowed until the data of all companies registered under the corporation is uploaded on its official website.
The move follows allegations that many companies involved in the recruitment process are fake. The petitioner’s advocate informed the court that 110 such companies have been identified as fraudulent, yet thousands of individuals continue to be recruited through them, putting the future of the state’s youth at risk.
The court expressed serious concern over the recruitment practices, noting that outsourced employees are often kept on for years despite the short-term nature of their contracts, and are paid lower wages for more work. The petitioner also called for the formation of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the fake companies, suggesting that the investigation should be conducted under the supervision of a retired High Court judge.
The court has asked the state government to file a detailed status report on the matter, with the next hearing scheduled for November 21.
In its directive, the court emphasized that the ongoing recruitment for outsourced positions, advertised under the Recruitment and Promotion (R&P) rules, undermines the regular recruitment process and poses serious risks to the fair treatment of employees. The government has been asked to ensure full transparency by making company data available online, failing which the ban on outsourced recruitment will remain in effect.
The ruling comes as a major step toward addressing the exploitation of outsourced workers and ensuring that recruitment processes in the state are conducted fairly and transparently.
