Kollam: Ahead of the Assembly elections, steps are being taken to regularise over a thousand contract employees in local bodies. Technical assistants who have been working on a contract basis for the past 10 years in village panchayats and municipalities will be regularised through the creation of permanent posts.

These are employees originally appointed in 2012 to support e-governance initiatives and provide technical assistance. The respective local bodies had hired personnel skilled in software, hardware and networking. Their initial contract salary was ₹32,550.

The move by the Local Self-Government Department follows a petition submitted by the Kerala Grama Panchayat Technical Assistant Organisation state committee and the CITU state committee to the Minister. Local bodies have been instructed to collect and submit details of these technical assistants to facilitate the process.

The letter notes that the staff were recruited on a contract basis through written exams, interviews and practical tests under the supervision of the Information Kerala Mission’s District Technical Officer. The purpose of providing this information is to facilitate their regularisation. However, this move has raised concerns that candidates waiting for appointments through the PSC may be adversely affected.