Private placement agencies from outside Assam must register under local legislation: Patowary

Guwahati, March 13: The private placement agencies from outside the State, which are engaged in activities here, will have to register themselves under the "The Assam Private Placement Agencies for Recruitment of Workers (Regulation) Act, 2019'.

This was stated by Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Chandra Mohan Patowary, in the Assam Legislative Assembly on Wednesday.

Replying to an issue raised by Congress member Debabrata Saikia, the Minister said that the Labour Welfare department has issued directions to ensure that all commercial establishments operating in Assam adhere to the State labour laws.

"As such, work on registration (under the Act) will commence from April 1 this year," he said.

Earlier, raising the issue, Saikia cited a media report alleging that a large number of candidates from outside Assam were recruited for Grade 3 and 4 posts at AIIMS Guwahati by some private placement agencies depriving local aspirants.

The Congress member alleged that similar instances have been noted during recruitments to other Central institutions and establishments located in the State.

In his reply, Patowary said that AIIMS Guwahati follows the Central Labour Acts.

He added that the recruitments at AIIMS Guwahati cited by Saikia have been done on contractual basis and 90 per cent of the selected candidates hail from Assam. The recruitments were done via some private agencies which are registered with the Union Ministry of Labour and Employment.

Patowary added that other Central institutions and public sector undertakings like OIL and ONGC also hold recruitments on an all-India basis and adhere to the Central Labour Acts.

- By Staff Reporter