KCR govt exploiting Workers in the name of Outsourcing?

In a move that has brought solace to workers associated with Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), the High Court of Telangana has questioned the attitude of the state government to continue with outsourcing staff and not having permanent employees. The court questioned the state was it not amounting to exploitation of workers.

A division bench of Telangana High Court on Thursday directed the GHMC authorities to explain the reasons behind its decision to engage persons on outsourcing basis instead of having regular appointments for doing service in the corporation. It is not proper to engage persons through outsourcing method for a longer period in the name of financial burden on the corporation, and such a practice is against various judgments of the Supreme Court.

"We are living in a democratic country and not in Nizam's rule, and such a practice cannot be allowed," the bench observed. The bench comprising Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice B Vijaysen Reddy passed this order in an appeal filed by GHMC challenging an order of a single judge who directed the corporation to consider the case of the petitioners for regularisation of their services.

Senior counsel S Niranjan Reddy, appearing for GHMC, contended that petitioners were not GHMC regular employees. They were not appointed by the civic body and were hired by an outsourcing agency, he said. GHMC was paying wages to nearly 30,000 persons. If outsourced workers were to be paid on the lines of regular scale, it would be a huge financial burden on the civic body, the lawyer said.

However, the bench observed that government wings were not expected to exploit workers in the guise of outsourcing. If the posts were temporary, why the services of the workers were being availed for years together, the bench remarked. The single judge's observation that government and its organisations cannot indulge in exploitation of labourers by not paying minimum wages cannot be found fault with, the bench said. The counsel appearing for GHMC sought time to file a detailed counter affidavit in the matter.


The court also sought the GHMC to give details regarding number of vacancies and so on and posted the matter to September 29 for further hearing.