Two months after the government of the Indian state of Maharashtra issued an order outsourcing recruitment for short-term government and semi-government posts to nine private HR agencies, it has issued a new directive clarifying that this method of hiring can also be used in the case of strikes by government employees or emergencies, including natural disasters, reports the Times of India. A government resolution issued on Tuesday lays out the standard operating procedures to be followed for short-term hiring to fill government posts in case of strikes and emergencies. The earlier order was issued in mid-March during the strike by government employees over the Old Pension Scheme, but did not spell out that the private agencies could be used for short-term hiring in such an eventuality.

"The new government resolution is only clarifying the original standard operating procedures," said a senior state official, adding that while recruitment still had to begin, the agencies had been chosen and the government was setting up the portal on which the vacancies had to be registered. The private agencies are to be used for fixed-term hiring of 74 categories of posts for highly skilled, skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled employees in all government, semi-government, urban and rural local bodies, corporations, boards, PSU (public service undertakings) and other government establishments.

The issue of outsourcing recruitment for short-term hiring in government jobs had caused a major stir in the state assembly in March. The Opposition had alleged that the move suggested the government had no intention of fulfilling its promise to fill 75,000 government posts with permanent employees. Leader of Opposition Ajit Pawar had also said this method of hiring could not be used for government posts which require secrecy. However, deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had said that the earlier government had also used the same method and that some government projects did not require permanent employees.