Haryana Governor approves bill sanctioning 75% quota for locals in private jobs

File image of Haryana Gov Satyadev Narayan Arya with CM ML Khattar (Pic: PTI)

The bill sanctioning 75 percent quota for locals in private jobs was approved by Haryana Governor Satyadev Narayan Arya on February 28.

Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Singh Chautala, while speaking to reporters, confirmed that the formal assent has been received from the Raj Bhawan.

Chautala had spearheaded the legislation to reserve three-fourth of all private sector jobs - up to Rs 50,000 monthly salary slab - for residents of the state. It was one of the core poll planks of his his political outfit, the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP).

While tabling the Haryana State Employment of Local Candidates Bill, 2020 last year, Chautala had said that the private companies would be required to register details of all natives hired by them on a monthly salary of up to Rs 50,000.

A penalty ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 2 lakh would be imposed on the employer on the failure to adhere to the law.

A provision in the bill allows the private companies to hire non-state employees above the 25 percent permissible limit if they do not find a suitable local candidate. However, the approval of government is necessitated for such hirings.

The law is expected to address the looming issue of unemployment in Haryana. The rate of joblessness in the state is three times higher than the national average.

In April 2020, the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) had claimed that the unemployment rate in Haryana shot to 43.2 percent -- the sharp surge attributed to the nationwide COVID-19 lockdown.

Even in the post-lockdown period, the state continued to trail widely behind the national average. While the nationwide unemployment rate slipped to 6.9 percent in February 2021, as per the CMIE data, Haryana recorded the highest jobless rate at 26.4 percent.