A JOB ON ITS HANDS

A week before the Haryana assembly reconvened for the budget session, state governor Satyadev Narayan Arya finally gave his consent to the Haryana State Employment of Local Candidates Bill, 2020, providing 75 per cent reservation in private sector jobs to the state’s residents. However, some clauses of the new law, such as the one that prohibits companies from hiring more than 10 per cent of their staff from a single district, has already kicked up a controversy and caused much concern.

- Anilesh S. Mahajan

Haryana accounts for more than half of India’s automobile manufacturing and is the headquarters of 75 per cent of the Fortune 500 companies in India. It has 23 special economic zones. The new law provides for the appointment of a ‘designated officer’, a representative of the government who can intervene if companies invoke exemption clauses or cite the lack of suitable local candidates. The officer will have the power to overrule such moves and direct these companies to “train local candidates to achieve the desired skill, qualification or proficiency”. Contravention of the law can invite fines between Rs 50,000 and Rs 2 lakh.

However, it is prospective in nature, and will only apply to companies registered after the bill becomes law. Under the new law, firms (companies, societies, trusts, partnership firms, or sole proprietorships) must register the details of employees drawing monthly salaries of less than Rs 50,000 within the next three months.