Ex-Haryana CM Om Prakash Chautala fumes as govt notifies job quota in private sector

Ex-Haryana CM and INLD chief Om Prakash Chautala disapproved of the Haryana government's law mandating 75% reservation for locals in the private sector. While the Haryana State Employment of Local Candidates Bill was originally passed in the state Assembly on November 5, 2020, Governor Satyadev Narayan Arya approved it on February 28. As per the notification issued by the state Labour Department on November 6, this law covers private companies, societies, trusts and partnership firms and will come into force from January 15, 2022.

"This is wrong as per the law. In this country, every citizen has equal rights irrespective of which state he belongs to. This cannot be changed," Om Prakash Chautala remarked. Incidentally, his grandson and Haryana Deputy CM Dushyant Chautala had spearheaded the demand for enacting the aforesaid law. 

Here are the provisions of the new law:

• This law shall cease to have an effect on the expiry of 10 years from the date of its commencement
• Every employer shall register employees receiving a monthly salary of not more than Rs.30,000 on the designated portal within three months of coming into force of this law
• Every employer shall employ 75% of local candidates in jobs where the monthly salary is not more than Rs.50,000
• The employer has the option of restricting the recruitment of local candidates from any district to 10% of the total number of local candidates
• The employer can claim exemption from these provisions if an adequate number of local candidates having the desired skill and proficiency are not available
• The designated officer can either reject or accept this claim or direct the employer to train local candidates accordingly
• While an employer shall file a quarterly report on the local candidates employed and appointed during the quarter, an authorized officer can pass any order for complying with the objectives of this Act after examining this report
• An employer aggrieved by the order of either the designated officer or the authorized officer can appeal within a period of 60 days
• The guilty persons will have to pay a fine ranging from Rs.10,000 to Rs.5,00,000 besides the imposition of a daily penalty till the time contravention is continued
• No court inferior to that of a Metropolitan Magistrate or a Judicial Magistrate of the First Class can try offences punishable under this Act