SRINAGAR: The Jammu and Kashmir Government has spent more than Rs 825 crore on outsourced manpower since 2019, with official records showing extensive use of contractual agencies for sanitation, housekeeping, security, field operations, driving, data entry and other support functions across departments.
The expenditure figure is based on the overall expenditure entries contained in a 72-page annexure submitted by the Finance Department in response to five clubbed starred questions in the Legislative Assembly.
The questions were raised by PDP MLA Waheed-ur-Rehman Para, Vijay Kumar, People’s Conference president Sajad Gani Lone, Shakti Raj Parihar and CPI(M) MLA Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami.
The Government has, however, cautioned that year-wise figures of outsourced engagements cannot be treated as the number of individual workers employed. The same personnel may be counted again when their outsourcing arrangement continues into a subsequent year.
For instance, the Government said, if 100 workers engaged through an outsourcing arrangement in 2020 continued under the same arrangement in 2021, they would appear in the figures for both years. The cumulative data therefore does not represent the number of unique workers engaged since 2019.
The records indicate significant dependence on outsourced manpower in departments requiring substantial field and support staff. In the Agriculture Production Department, 14,497 personnel were engaged through the reported arrangements between 2019-20 and 2025-26, including 10,055 seasonal or need-based workers.
In the Public Works (R&B) Department, 920 persons were outsourced, with 380 engaged as seasonal workers for shorter periods, according to notes accompanying the annexure.
The Finance Department said outsourcing is used as an administrative arrangement to address manpower requirements where the workload cannot be adequately managed by regular staff. It said such engagements primarily cover sanitation, housekeeping, security and other support services and do not constitute appointments against sanctioned government posts.
According to the Government, outsourcing has been practised in J&K since 2015, with the Health Department among the early adopters. Separate budgetary provisions for outsourced manpower began appearing from 2018.
The Government maintained that outsourcing is not a substitute for regular recruitment. Permanent posts continue to be filled through prescribed recruitment procedures, while outsourced personnel are engaged to supplement existing staff where necessary.
The Health and Medical Education Department alone recorded 14,489 outsourced manpower engagements under a major arrangement covering technical, paramedical, administrative, support, housekeeping and security functions during 2024-25 and 2025-26. The expenditure recorded against the arrangement in the annexure was Rs 21.47 crore.
The Estates Department has also used outsourced agencies for sanitation services over successive years. The Government clarified that the 1,955 engagements reported for the department relate to sanitation manpower and do not represent 1,955 separate individuals, as personnel continuing under successive contracts may be counted more than once.
The annexure records outsourcing across a range of departments, including Health and Medical Education, Estates, Agriculture, Public Works, School Education, Social Welfare and Skill Development, among others.
The Government said departments engage private agencies in accordance with applicable rules and procurement procedures. For unskilled work, the selected agency generally handles recruitment and deployment, while the concerned department monitors attendance, deployment, wage payments and compliance with contractual terms.
For skilled, technical and professional positions, departments may oversee the selection process and require tests or interviews where such conditions are specified in the bidding documents.
The Finance Department said outsourcing contracts are generally awarded through e-tendering or the Government e-Marketplace (GeM), with provisions covering eligibility, competitive bidding, performance obligations and monitoring.
It also referred to Finance Department Circular No. 08-FD of 2023, which provides safeguards concerning payment of wages, Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF), Employees’ State Insurance (ESI) and other statutory dues.
Addressing concerns over the use of outsourced manpower in place of regular appointments, the Government said the arrangement is intended to supplement the workforce and maintain essential services without creating additional permanent posts.
It said outsourced assignments are generally limited to non-core, ancillary, short-term, seasonal, part-time or specialised functions, including sanitation, watch and ward, data entry, driving, security and IT assistance.
The Government further said regular posts continue to be created and filled on the basis of workload and functional requirements, with vacancies referred to the Jammu and Kashmir Public Service Commission (JKPSC), Jammu and Kashmir Services Selection Board (JKSSB) and other prescribed recruitment agencies through the applicable selection processes.
