Dinkar Kapoor, State General Secretary, All India Peoples Front, Uttar Pradesh
(Samajweekly) On 2 September 2025, the cabinet of the Uttar Pradesh government has decided to form Uttar Pradesh Outsource Service Corporation Limited. The government says that after the formation of this corporation, the outsourcing going on in the works of government departments in the state will be more transparent. The employees will get full honorarium and along with the monthly salary, the money will go directly to their EPF and ESI accounts. An honorarium of Rs 16 – 20 thousand per month has been fixed for outsourcing employees and it has been provided that outsourced employees will be able to provide their services in the department for 3 years. It is being said that instead of the department, now the corporation will select the outsourcing agencies through a fair and transparent process through the Gem portal.
This corporation limited has been formed under Section-8 of the Companies Act-2013, which is a non-profit company. It has been provided that in lieu of providing employees through outsourcing company, the corporation will collect one percent cess from each employee from the department, which will be spent on corporation works and the remaining amount will be spent for the welfare of outsourced labourers. It has also been kept in the document of formation of the corporation that outsourcing recruitment will not be done on the created posts. In outsourcing, reservation will be ensured for SC, ST, OBC, EWS, women, dependents of freedom fighters and ex-servicemen.
After the formation of this commission, there are mixed reactions in the society. Some people are considering it as a historic step of the government, while others are seeing it as an action to get work done through outsourcing instead of permanent recruitment. If its documents are looked at carefully, it has been said that as per the clear provisions in the Government Order dated 6 January 2020 of the Personnel Department of the Government of Uttar Pradesh, taking services on the basis of outsourcing against the created posts is completely prohibited and creation of outsourcing post is also completely prohibited. Despite this, this corporation has divided the posts into four categories. Category 1 includes medical, engineering, lecturer, project management, accounting, architect, research services. Category 2 includes office services, stenography, accounting, data processing, translation, welfare, art education, physical training, teaching, drafting, X-ray, nursing, pharmacy, engineering, legal consultant, statistics services. Category 3 includes office stenography level 3, typing, telecommunication, storage, photography, data processing, library, electrician, mechanical, fitter, laboratory operation, paramedical, supervisory, managerial services, driving services. Category 4 includes 43 specialized services like office services, lift operator, laboratory, records, office subordinate, storage, postal, painting, catering, gardener, labour services and 47 highly specialized services like mechanical, electrical, sanitation, pumping, fire safety services etc. In this list, you will find most of the work going on in government departments in the state at present. This is the reason that before the formation of this corporation, no objection certificates have been obtained from almost all the departments of the state. All these services which are currently being provided in permanent works and created posts in the coming time, preparations have been made to outsource them i.e. to go under contract system with the formation of this corporation. Everyone is aware that Section 10 of the Contract Labor Act of 1970 clearly states that contract system will not be implemented in works of permanent nature. Despite this, the contract system has been gradually started in every department from Rashtrapati Bhavan through which the labour force of labourers and employees is being looted on a large scale by making them work on very low honorarium or remuneration as compared to permanent works and created posts. With just one example, you can understand the claim of minimum remuneration payment being made by this corporation. The minimum remuneration of an MBBS doctor for medical services has been fixed by the corporation at Rs 40,000 per month. On talking to the officials of the medical department, it was told that at present the MBBS doctors who are being appointed in government hospitals on contract are being given an honorarium of 1 lakh rupees. The doctors who are being employed under various schemes like Rural Health Mission are also getting 60-70 thousand rupees. If a doctor comes through government recruitment in relation to the created post, then his initial salary is about 87000. In such a situation, people can understand that how big a loot is being opened in the future.
The situation is such that the entire staff of this corporation itself will be appointed from outsourcing employees. Apart from the Director General, Executive Director and Finance Controller working in the board, all the posts like General Manager, Manager, Personal Assistant of Director General, Company Secretary, Senior Accountant, Data Entry Operator, Office Subordinate Staff, Chowkidar, Sweeper, Safai Karamchari will be appointed from outsourcing only. If the government is saying that this corporation has been formed permanently, then the appointment of all its employees appointed from outsourcing is illegal as per the government order of the Yogi government itself. Not only this, the Government Market Place Portal i.e. Gem Portal, which is being talked about repeatedly, is not a new thing. The Government of India has already implemented the policy of doing all the services and goods, mining, tenders etc. on the Gem Portal only. In return, the Finance Ministry of the Government of India charges 3.85 percent as minimum service charge from the companies. Some people feel that this corporation will get the work done itself in the coming time. It has also been said about this in its very clear arrangement. The corporation will work only as a regulatory body. It will not do any work on its own, rather, when the department demands work, the corporation will select an outsourced company through the Gem portal and this company will appoint its employees. The workers will be considered purely employees of the outsourced company who have nothing to do with the government. There is a big game in this too. When the department selects an outsourced company and gives work, the main employer is the department and it is its responsibility to provide social security, salary and other facilities to the worker under Labour Laws. Now in this process, the department and the government will escape from all this. The corporation has made a provision for the outsourced agency to work for a minimum of 3 years, which is a violation of the employees’ gratuity rights. According to the Gratuity Act, the worker gets this only after a tenure of 5 years. It is clear that the employees will be deprived of gratuity due to the provision of 3 years.
The question is also being raised that there is no constitutional provision of reservation in the private sector right now. In such a situation, can the government force private companies to have reservation through a government order? People also have doubts that private companies may approach the court against this system. As far as EPF and ESI are concerned, there is a minimum ceiling for this in this Act. Workers who get remuneration of more than Rs. 15000 do not come under the purview of EPF and ESI. In such a situation, it remains to be seen how the government will implement it on them. As far as giving Rs. 15000 to the worker for funeral, maternity benefit, giving 70 percent salary during the period of treatment is concerned, all these are already present in ESI benefits. Not even a single penny will be spent on this by the outsourcing company, government or department. Pension, death benefit also come under the rules of EPF.
The government’s claim that after the formation of this corporation, outsourcing companies will not be able to act arbitrarily is also hollow. There is definitely a provision in the corporation’s system that companies indulging in irregularities will be blacklisted and punished, but nothing has been said about how this will happen and what will be its process. As far as minimum wages are concerned, the Seventh Pay Commission had fixed the minimum wage in the country at Rs 21000. Which should be Rs 26000 according to the current inflation rate. According to that, the announcement of monthly remuneration of Rs 16000 to 20000 is very less. In Uttar Pradesh, the situation is so bad that the wage revision of Minimum Wages was done in 2014, which was to be done after five years i.e. in 2019 as per the provisions of the Minimum Wages Act, which has not been done till date.
In fact, this Outsourcing Corporation Limited has been formed by the Yogi government to give legal shape to the work being done illegally in permanent works like outsourcing, contract, tender, personal contract contracting etc. This corporation, whose slogan is ‘Outsourcing Corporation-Ek Samadhan’, will work to increase the problems in the lives of employees more than the solution. At such a time, the Rozgar Adhikar Abhiyan going on in the state has raised the demand of filling up nearly 6 lakh vacant posts in various departments in the state, creating new posts as per today’s population and requirement, stopping the contract system in permanent nature of work and filling the vacancies pending for years in a transparent manner as soon as possible. Employee and labour organizations should stand firmly against the contract system in government work instead of getting trapped in the confusion being spread through the formation of this outsourcing corporation.
