Srinagar, Sep 30 (KNS): The Jammu and Kashmir Government has spent more than ?825 crore on outsourced manpower since 2019, with official data showing hundreds of contracts for sanitation, housekeeping, security, field staff, drivers, data-entry and other support services across departments.
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‎The expenditure figure emerges from a review of the overall expenditure entries in the 72-page annexure furnished by the Finance Department in response to five clubbed starred questions in the Legislative Assembly. The questions were raised by PDP's Waheed-ur-Rehman Para, Vijay Kumar, People's Conference chief Sajad Gani Lone, Shakti Raj Parihar and CPI(M)'s Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami.
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‎The government, however, has clarified that the number of outsourced engagements shown year-wise cannot be treated as the number of distinct individuals employed, as the same manpower continuing under an outsourcing arrangement is counted again in subsequent years.
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‎The government said that for instance if 100 people outsourced in 2020 continued under the same arrangement in 2021, they would be counted in both years. The cumulative figures, therefore, do not represent the number of unique workers engaged.
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‎The annexure records particularly large-scale outsourcing in departments where manpower is required for field and support functions.
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‎In the Agriculture Production Department, the government has disclosed that 14,497 personnel were hired during 2019-20 to 2025-26, of whom 10,055 were engaged as seasonal or need-based workers.
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‎In the Public Works (R&B) Department, 920 persons were outsourced, with 380 engaged as seasonal workers for short durations, according to notes appended to the annexure.
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‎The figures illustrate the extent to which departments have relied on outsourced manpower for functions that do not necessarily correspond to permanent sanctioned posts.
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‎The Finance Department has defended the practice as an administrative mechanism to meet manpower requirements when the workload of regular staff is insufficient.
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‎It said outsourcing is primarily used for sanitation, housekeeping, security and other support services, and that personnel engaged through agencies are not appointed against sanctioned government posts.
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‎The government said the practice has been in use in J&K since 2015, with the Health Department among the first to adopt it, while separate budgetary provisions for outsourced manpower began appearing from 2018.
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‎It also stressed that outsourcing is not intended to replace direct recruitment. Regular recruitment, it said, continues against sanctioned posts through the prescribed selection process, while outsourcing is used to temporarily supplement manpower where required.Click Here To Follow Our WhatsApp Channel
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‎The annexure shows extensive outsourcing across departments, including Health and Medical Education, Estates, Agriculture, Public Works, School Education, Social Welfare, Skill Development and several other sectors.
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‎The Health and Medical Education Department alone has listed 14,489 outsourced manpower engagements under one of its major outsourcing arrangements covering technical, paramedical, administrative, support, housekeeping and security functions for 2024-25 and 2025-26, with expenditure of ?21.47 crore recorded in the annexure.
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‎The Estates Department has also repeatedly outsourced sanitation services over the years. The government specifically clarified that its reported 1,955 outsourced engagements relate to sanitation services and include manpower continuing across successive years, rather than 1,955 separate individuals.
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‎The government said departments engage private agencies in accordance with applicable government rules and procurement procedures.
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‎For unskilled work, the selected agency generally undertakes recruitment and deployment, while departments monitor attendance, deployment, wage payments and compliance with contractual conditions.
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‎For skilled, technical or professional manpower, departments may regulate the selection process and require tests or interviews where prescribed in the bidding documents.
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‎According to the Finance Department, outsourcing contracts are generally awarded through e-tendering or the Government e-Marketplace (GeM), with provisions covering eligibility, competitive bidding, performance requirements and monitoring.
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‎The government also referred to Finance Department Circular No. 08-FD of 2023, which prescribes safeguards relating to payment of wages, EPF, ESI and other statutory dues.
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‎Responding to concerns over whether outsourcing was being used in place of regular recruitment, the government said it was intended to supplement the existing workforce and ensure continuity of essential services without creating additional permanent posts.
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‎It said outsourced work is generally confined to non-core, ancillary, short-term, seasonal, part-time or specialised functions, including sanitation, watch and ward, data entry, driving, security and IT assistance.
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‎The government maintained that it continues to create and fill regular posts according to workload and functional requirements, with vacancies being referred to the JKPSC, JKSSB and other prescribed recruitment agencies through selection processes.(KNS)