Employment Exchanges Act to remain unchanged

He read out a detailed letter of the then Labour Minister M.P. Veerendra Kumar written to the then Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh on July 22, 1997. He said the letter reads: “It is felt that in event of the proposed amendment taking the form of a law, the basic structure of the Act will undergo a drastic change. Under the existing provisions, it is obligatory on the part of the employers only to notify the vacancies occurring in their establishments. But if the proposed amendment is accepted, it will become obligatory on the part of the employers to make recruitments only from among the candidates recommended by the employment exchanges regardless of whether or not the candidates so recommended actually meet the essential requirements for the vacant posts”.

The Chief Minister further read from the letter: “Apart from affecting the freedom of both the public and private enterprises to manage their manpower efficiently, it may also send wrong signals to the investors from abroad”.

Earlier, replying to the main question, Industries Minister Kishori Lal said that about 80 per cent workers were employed from the state in all the industrial units. The question was raised by BJP member Rakesh Pathania and Congress members asked the supplementaries.

Intervening in another question, the Chief Minister said the government would implement roster for reservation while appointing water carriers in the schools.

Replying to main question, Primary Education Minister Karan Singh said 10,487 posts of water carriers were created in the state and of these 7,256 had been filled. The Minister told the House that the remaining 3,231 posts would also be filled very soon.

In reply to another question, Excise and Taxation Minister Mahinder Singh said the matter regarding vacant posts of the excise and taxation officers was sub-judice and these posts would be filled after the decision of the court.

The Minister said to plug loopholes in evasion of excise duty and other taxes, the government had set up 41 barriers besides constituting three flying squads. Apart from this, the government would soon create another zone to lesson the burden of two existing zones and check the evasion of taxes. The question was asked by Kaul Singh Thakur and two others.

In a written reply to a question asked by Singhi Ram, Rangila Ram Rao and Asha Kumari, the Public Works Minister said a total number of 4,297 daily wagers had been appointed in the Public Works Department. Of these, 3,388 were appointed in Mandi circle and surprisingly 2,260 out of these were appointed in Dharampur area alone. There are 18 circles in the state.