Jobs of many outsourced workers in Madhya Pradesh government offices are now in danger. The state government has started ending the outsourced services that fill regular posts, both permanent and temporary, in its departments. Fourth grade (Class IV) staff are left out of this order. According to an employees’ group, up to 2.5 lakh workers could be affected.
Jobs Held by Outsourced Staff on Regular Posts Will Go by March 2027
Kiran Gupta, Deputy Secretary in the Planning, Economic and Statistics Department, has told officials to finish the required action by March 31, 2027. She is following guidelines from the Finance Department.
The order covers departments where outsourced workers were hired for a limited time against vacant regular posts, with the Finance Department’s permission. Except for Class IV staff, these arrangements must end before March 2027. Regular recruitment under the Finance Department’s circular of November 18, 2024 will fill the posts.
There is a catch for departments. If a department must keep outsourced staff after March 2027 in a special situation, the regular posts of that category will be abolished.
Vasudev Sharma, president of the Temporary Outsource Employees Front, says more than 5 lakh outsourced workers are employed across the state. He estimates that 2 to 2.5 lakh of them, apart from Class IV, may lose their jobs. These include data entry operators, computer operators and office assistants. Outsourced workers also serve in electricity companies, health, urban bodies, panchayats, collectorates, education, public works and water resources departments. The 2 to 2.5 lakh figure is Sharma’s estimate and has not come from the government.
The letter has gone to three offices: the Commissioner of the Economics and Statistics Directorate, the CEO of the Madhya Pradesh State Policy Commission and the Executive Director of the Madhya Pradesh Jan Abhiyan Parishad. All three must finish the work in time and send a report.
Jobs Rules Are Changing, and Employee Groups Are Upset
This step follows a series of earlier decisions. The government had already said that outsourced or contract staff will not be hired against sanctioned regular posts. Guidelines issued on December 22, 2025 added that no separate posts will be created for outsourced workers. In January 2026, the government cancelled a March 31, 2023 order that let department heads hire outsourced staff for Class IV posts. Now no department can hire outsourced workers directly without Finance Department approval.
Other changes in government job rules include:
Under a cabinet decision of December 16, 2025, existing temporary posts in all departments, except special projects, will become permanent. Departments must change their recruitment rules for this.
Work-charged and contingency fund posts are no longer considered necessary, since construction work now goes through tenders. Permanent workers and permanent classified posts created under the 2016 policy are now a dying cadre, so no new hiring or filling of vacancies will happen there.
In future, only permanent and contract posts can be created. Outsourced, fixed-term daily workers and part-time staff can still be hired when needed. Compassionate appointments will be made only on vacant regular posts.
Sharma has strongly opposed the decision. He says the government has started laying off outsourced workers by citing the December 22, 2025 guidelines. According to him, these employees have served government offices for years and even worked through the Covid period, and now they are being sent home. He called the decision insensitive and asked outsourced and temporary workers to fight together.
The government’s view is that regular recruitment is moving ahead, so the outsourcing system is being limited. For young job seekers, this could open more regular posts. For those already working on outsourced contracts, the next few months will be uncertain.
