The Himachal Pradesh government has introduced a bill in the state assembly that will deny seniority and financial benefits to employees who have served their contractual service period. The Himachal Pradesh Government Employees Recruitment and Service Conditions Bill, presented by Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu on Wednesday, aims to address financial and administrative challenges stemming from including contractual tenure in seniority calculations.

If passed, the bill will ensure that employees’ seniority is determined only after their regularization, excluding the period they served on a contract basis. This policy change will apply retroactively from 2003, the year contractual appointments were first introduced in the state.

The government cited the significant financial burden as a key reason for introducing the bill. Granting seniority and financial benefits for the contractual service period would not only require a massive allocation of resources but also necessitate revising seniority lists for over two decades.

Legal disputes have further complicated the issue. Cases like Taj Mohammad vs. Lekhraj have resulted in court directives compelling the government to grant seniority benefits to contractual employees. Senior officials noted that similar cases are being heard regularly, creating additional pressure on the state treasury and administration.

The bill clarifies that contractual appointments, governed by agreements signed at the time of hiring, were never intended to be equivalent to regular employment. The appointment letters explicitly stated that contractual tenure would not count toward seniority or other benefits. However, the inclusion of contractual employees in recruitment and promotion rules blurred this distinction, leading to confusion and legal challenges.

The proposed legislation, grounded in Article 309 of the Constitution, seeks to differentiate clearly between regular and contractual employees. It aims to protect the interests of regular employees while ensuring that the state’s financial resources are used judiciously.

The government has emphasized that the bill is a step toward harmonizing the interests of both regular and contractual employees. It aims to streamline recruitment and service conditions, providing much-needed clarity and consistency in employee policies.

Once passed, the bill will bring an end to the practice of counting contractual tenure for seniority and financial benefits, relieving the state of legal and financial complications while safeguarding its fiscal health.