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Earlier this week, Haryana deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala said that new startups and IT/ITES companies will be exempt from the state’s new local candidate reservation law for two years.

After Andhra Pradesh, the Haryana Government had also passed a law reserving jobs in private companies for local candidates. The Haryana State Employment of Local Candidates Bill, 2020 was passed by the state assembly in November 2020. 

According to the provisions in the law, every employer employing more than 10 persons is required to employ 75% local candidates for the posts where the gross monthly salary or wages are less than INR 50,000. 

The local candidate will have to register themselves on a dedicated portal to avail the benefits of this reservation. And employers will have to recruit from this portal. These candidates can be from any district of Haryana but the employer is given the choice to restrict the number of local candidates from a district to 10% if they want to. 

Until now, the procedure to receive an exemption from the law was a daunting process. Employers had to prove that an adequate number of local candidates of the desired skill, qualification or proficiency is not available.

In order to do this, they had to apply to a designated officer (someone at or above the rank of deputy commissioner). The officer will then hold an inquiry before accepting or rejecting the request. They can also ask the employer to train local candidates to achieve the desired skills and qualifications.

Under the law, every employer is required to submit a quarterly report, which will then be studied by an officer (someone at or above the rank of sub-divisional officer). If the employer violates any provisions of the law, they could be fined between INR 10k to INR 2 Lakhs. 

All members of the employing organisation’s management team would be considered guilty of the violation until they separately prove that the offence was committed without their knowledge or approval.