SRINAGAR: The Jammu and Kashmir Government has told the Legislative Assembly that it has not fixed a timeline for regularising the services of daily-wage, casual, seasonal and other temporary workers, with the issue still under examination by a committee constituted in March 2025.
The government said it was not possible to prescribe a “rigid timeframe” at this stage because the matter involves multiple categories of workers and has legal, administrative and financial implications.
The disclosure came in response to a question by MLA Narinder Singh Raina, who sought the status of the regularisation process, the measures being taken to fulfil the commitment and the timeline, if any, for completing it.
The government said a committee was constituted through Government Order No. 384-JK(CAD) of 2025, dated March 19, 2025, to examine matters concerning casual, seasonal and other temporary, contractual and need-based workers engaged in different departments across Jammu and Kashmir.
The committee has been tasked with examining the “humanitarian, legal and financial” aspects associated with their regularisation.
According to the government, the workers concerned were engaged at different times and under different terms and conditions. Any policy emerging from the exercise would therefore have to comply with applicable statutory provisions, the prevailing legal position and the prescribed recruitment framework, besides taking into account its financial implications.
The government said the committee was undertaking a comprehensive examination aimed at formulating a uniform framework that could be legally enforced and administratively implemented across departments.
Consultations with the departments concerned and assessment of the issue from administrative, legal and financial perspectives would be required before a final policy decision, it said.
“The issue is under active consideration, and efforts are being made to complete the requisite examination and consultations at the earliest,” the government said.
However, it declined to specify when the exercise would be completed.
“It would not be appropriate to indicate a rigid timeframe at this stage,” the government said, citing the “multiplicity of categories involved” and the legal, administrative and financial implications of any decision.
The government said a considered decision would be taken after the committee completes its examination and receives the necessary inputs from the concerned departments and authorities.
The reply does not state a deadline for completion of the committee’s work or indicate when a final regularisation policy is expected to be placed before the competent authority.
