Facility Management

₹825 crore spent on outsourced manpower since 2019 in J&K

27, Oct 2026 Mumbai 42 Views

Official records show Jammu and Kashmir has spent more than ₹825 crore on outsourced manpower since 2019, with hiring spread across several departments and support functions. While the government says the model only supplements regular recruitment, the scale of engagement has sharpened questions about workforce planning, accountability and long-term dependence on agency labour.

 

Jammu and Kashmir’s growing dependence on outsourced labour has come under fresh scrutiny after official records showed the administration has spent more than ₹825 crore on such arrangements since 2019. The figures, drawn from a Finance Department annexure placed before the Legislative Assembly, point to a system that now spans sanitation, housekeeping, security, field support, driving, data entry and other non-core functions across government departments.

According to KNS Kashmir, the disclosure came in response to five starred questions clubbed together in the Assembly. The questions were raised by PDP leader Waheed-ur-Rehman Para, Vijay Kumar, People's Conference chief Sajad Gani Lone, Shakti Raj Parihar and CPI(M) leader Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami, reflecting the political spread of concern around the scale and purpose of the arrangement.

How the numbers add upThe government has cautioned that the year-wise figures in the annexure should not be read as a count of unique workers. A person engaged through an outsourcing agency in one year may appear again in the following year if the same arrangement continues, which means cumulative totals can overstate the number of distinct individuals involved.

Officials gave a simple illustration: if 100 outsourced workers remained on the same contract from one year to the next, the same 100 would be counted again in the later year. That accounting method, the administration said, explains why the overall engagement figures are much higher than the number of fresh recruits in any single year.

The annexure suggests the outsourcing model is most heavily used in departments where day-to-day field operations and support services are central to functioning. These are not necessarily permanent sanctioned roles, but assignments that the government says need to be filled to keep services running smoothly.

Departments with the heaviest relianceThe Agriculture Production Department recorded 14,497 personnel engaged between 2019-20 and 2025-26, including 10,055 seasonal or need-based workers. The Public Works Department, including Roads and Buildings, reported 920 outsourced persons, of whom 380 were seasonal workers deployed for short durations.

In the Health and Medical Education Department, one of the largest outsourcing arrangements listed in the annexure covered technical, paramedical, administrative, support, housekeeping and security functions. That arrangement alone accounted for 14,489 engagements for 2024-25 and 2025-26, with expenditure of ₹21.47 crore shown in the record.

The Estates Department also figures prominently. The government clarified that its 1,955 outsourced engagements relate to sanitation services and represent continuing manpower across successive years rather than 1,955 separate individuals. The clarification matters because sanitation contracts are among the clearest examples of how outsourced labour is rolled over rather than freshly hired each year.

Why the administration says outsourcing is necessaryThe Finance Department has defended the practice as an administrative response to manpower gaps, especially where regular staff strength is not enough to handle workload. The department said outsourcing is mainly used for sanitation, housekeeping, security and similar support functions, while those engaged through agencies are not appointed against sanctioned government posts.The government further said the practice has been in use in Jammu and Kashmir since 2015, with the Health Department among the early adopters. Separate budget provisions for outsourced manpower began appearing from 2018, indicating that the system has gradually moved from an operational stopgap to a recurring line item in the public finances.

Officials also stressed that outsourcing is not meant to replace regular recruitment. According to the government’s explanation, sanctioned posts continue to be filled through the prescribed selection process, while outsourced workers are brought in temporarily to bridge immediate gaps or meet seasonal and specialised needs.Procurement rules, wage safeguards and oversightThe administration said departments engage private agencies under applicable rules and procurement procedures. For unskilled work, the selected agency typically handles recruitment and deployment, while the department monitors attendance, deployment, wage disbursal and compliance with contractual terms.Where the assignment involves skilled, technical or professional manpower, departments may be more directly involved in the selection process and can require tests or interviews if those conditions are built into the bidding documents. The Finance Department said outsourcing contracts are generally awarded through e-tendering or the Government e-Marketplace, with eligibility norms, competitive bidding, performance clauses and monitoring requirements built in.The government also referred to Finance Department Circular No. 08-FD of 2023, which lays down safeguards on wages as well as statutory dues such as EPF and ESI. That circular is significant because the expansion of outsourced hiring has often raised questions about whether workers in such arrangements receive the same level of financial and social protection as regular employees.What the policy debate now looks likeThe larger issue is not simply the size of the bill, but the structural dependence on a parallel workforce for routine public services. Outsourcing can offer flexibility, especially in departments facing short-term peaks, seasonal demand or specialised requirements. It can also help the administration avoid creating permanent posts for work that may not justify long-term sanctioned appointments.At the same time, the model raises obvious questions about job security, wage parity, accountability and the transparency of repeated renewals. When the same workers continue year after year under agency contracts, the distinction between temporary support and de facto permanent service can become difficult to maintain in practice, even if it remains clear on paper.The government’s position is that the arrangement is limited to non-core, ancillary, short-term, seasonal, part-time or specialised functions such as sanitation, watch and ward, data entry, driving, security and IT assistance. It also said vacancies in regular cadres continue to be referred to JKPSC, JKSSB and other prescribed recruitment agencies according to workload and functional requirements.For now, the latest disclosure shows that outsourcing has become embedded across the Jammu and Kashmir administration rather than remaining a marginal staffing device. The question going forward is whether the system can stay a temporary supplement, as officials insist, or whether it has already become a structural feature of governance that will keep expanding unless regular recruitment catches up with service demand.

Source Link: Economic Times Facilities