Contract employees in Uttarakhand who were appointed on or before 4 December 2008 may soon be considered for regularization. A new policy framework, titled Regularization Rules 2025, is being prepared and will shortly be presented before the state cabinet. This move follows Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami’s announcement and a meeting held on 28 August under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary Anand Bardhan.
The meeting was attended by Secretary (Personnel) Shailesh Bagoli, Secretary (Finance) Dilip Jawalkar, Additional Secretary (Law) Manish Kumar Pandey, Additional Secretary (Personnel) Navneet Pandey, and Additional Secretary (Finance) Ganga Prasad.
Officials highlighted that, in line with Supreme Court directions, the state had earlier introduced a one-time regularization policy for daily wagers, contractual staff, fixed-pay workers, part-time and ad-hoc employees. Under the 2011 policy, employees with at least 10 years of service by 1 November 2011 were eligible for regularization. This was followed by the 2013 policy, which reduced the service requirement to 5 years as of 30 December 2013. However, in 2018, the Nainital High Court stayed its implementation.
Later, in the Narendra Singh vs State case, the High Court in February 2024 directed that the service requirement be revised back to 10 years. Based on this ruling, the state government is now considering regularization of employees appointed on or before 4 December 2008.
The proposed Regularization Rules 2025 will amend Rule 4(1) of the 2013 policy to align with the High Court’s order. Once finalized, the draft will be placed before the cabinet for approval. Notably, the policy will only apply to categories covered under earlier frameworks—daily wage, contractual, fixed-pay, part-time, and ad-hoc workers. Employees hired through outsourcing agencies, such as UPNL, will remain excluded.
