Private companies have to notify vacancies or face fine: Maharashtra Govt

As Lodha shared a detailed plan of action for the next 100 days, he also announced that the State will have its own Placement Agencies Act to regulate them as many of them are observed to be fraudulent in nature. Private companies will have to notify the Government about their vacancies and failing to do so can cost them a fine of up to Rs 50,000. As the Code of Social Security 2020 replaced the Employment Exchanges (Compulsory notification of Vacancies) Act 1959; the Maharashtra Government has prepared draft implementation rules for the State that is expected to strengthen the employment exchange bureau. Maharashtra’s Skill, Employment, Entrepreneurship and Innovations Department declared its 100-days plan of action on Monday which included two major announcements – draft of implementation rules for the State for Code of Social Security 2020 and proposal for Placement Agencies Act to regulate them. Both drafts are ready by the Department and will be presented before the Government for approval within the next four months.

Minister of Skill, Employment, Entrepreneurship and Innovations, Mangal Prabhat Lodha said, “As per the existing practice (which is as per the Vacancies Act 1959) was toothless. While there was no stringent system to ensure that all vacancies are notified; the penalty was merely a few thousands of rupees, which hardly acted as a deterrent. The new system will be more stringent and we can expect better regulation. Additionally, it will strengthen the Employment Exchange Bureau of the State. We have so many young individuals looking for jobs and we need to have a regularized process of employment.” As Lodha shared a detailed plan of action for the next 100 days, he also announced that the State will have its own Placement Agencies Act to regulate them as many of them are observed to be fraudulent in nature. An official from the Department explained, “Placement agencies are mushrooming across. And in the absence of any regulations on them, sometimes youngsters looking for jobs fall prey to those which are fraudulent in nature. This Act proposes to bring them under a regulation, wherein it will be mandatory for these placement agencies to register with the Government with a fee and also participate in job-fairs to be held by the Government.” As per information shared by the official, currently only three States viz. Assam, Mizoram and Chhattisgarh have such a law.

Lodha also declared that a loan of Rs.2300 crores has been sanctioned by the World Bank, which will be utilized for infective implementations of the various schemes of the Department, including targets mentioned from the 100-day action plan, such as renovation of Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs), setting up of six international centres in State, dedicated skill-oriented training for women, training on artificial intelligence with Microsoft Skills, Punyashlok Ahilyadevi Holkar Scheme, under which start-up support is provided to women and conducting start-up conclaves amongst all.

Source : https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/private-companies-have-to-notify-vacancies-or-face-fine-maharashtra-govt-9789845/#:~:text=Private%20companies%20will%20have%20to,of%20up%20to%20Rs%2050%2C000.