Chandigarh, August 10: The Punjab Vidhan Sabha unanimously passed the Punjab State Outsourced Personnel (Transition to Contractual Engagement) Bill, 2026, granting contractual status and statutory benefits to roughly 28,000 outsourced workers across state departments.
The legislative move follows an earlier decision by the Punjab Cabinet in May to clear two ordinances aiming to eliminate outsourcing. While the governor subsequently requested full legislative review by the assembly, the government opted to introduce only the transition bill during the session, deferring the companion Punjab State Contractual Personnel Bill intended for service regularisation.
Presenting the legislation before the assembly, Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema affirmed that the secondary bill addressing regularisation would be presented at a later stage, without elaborating on the timeline.
Under the provisions of the newly passed act, all eligible Group C and Group D outsourced personnel transition to contractual employment, securing statutory entitlements including Provident Fund, Employee State Insurance, and gratuity benefits.
Addressing the assembly during the debate, Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann declared, “I have been pained to see how companies engaged by the government to provide various services were exploiting these employees without rights or notice, and we have decided to end this exploitation.”
