Job exchanges losing sheen

Mushrooming private job placement agencies and lapses in the employment law have taken away the sheen of the district employment exchanges (DEEs) in Karnataka.

Private companies are recruiting candidates directly taking assistance from the job placement agencies, while government establishments are not preferring the candidates sponsored by the DEEs.

While private recruiters find that the candidates suggested by the DEEs do not match their requirements, the government agencies make their own choice ignoring the DEEs' list as each department has its own norms for job recruitment. Hence, some of the DEEs have stopped sponsoring candidates to private enterprises and to certain government departments.

Even the proposed online placement of profiles of the jobless, announced with a fanfare some time ago, has received a setback. It has gone to cold storage following an opposition to registration fee of Rs 100 per candidate in the state assembly. It was opposed on the grounds that such a fee is against the law. Around 5,500 candidates had registered netting Rs 5.5 lakh and an MOU had fetched Rs 18.5 lakh to the state, when the scheme was launched.

Consequently, the number of jobless registered with the Mysore DEE has dropped to around 35,000 from one lakh. Besides, the DEEs are also facing financial constraints and inadequate staff, said Mysore DEE Employment Officer S J Hemachandra.

Sometime ago there was a mention of closing down the DEEs, but this cannot be done because they fall under the government of India purview. The state has no powers to wind them up. Under the circumstances, only a revenue model and amendment to the act could strengthen the DEEs, he said.

On a petition filed by the Gujarat and West Bengal governments, in 1996 the Supreme Court (SC) made it mandatory for a requisitioning authority or establishment to intimate the DEE before making recruitment and selection according to seniority and reservation.

Establishments which violate the SC order can be penalised between Rs 250 and Rs 10,000 under the Compulsory Notification Act 1959, Section 7. They can conduct recruitment process themselves, but informing the DEE is mandatory.

Based on this, the state government has issued a circular on March 10, 2006, making this process mandatory for both private and public enterprises, he added.