The government has assured private investors that state-owned firms which are being privatised will not have to reserve jobs for under-privileged sections as they are currently expected to, but also told them that it will adequately protect exiting employees, including those appointed through quotas for people from scheduled castes (SCs), scheduled tribes (STs) and the physically challenged, through the shareholders agreement (SHA), three people with direct knowledge of the matter said.
Such agreements, governing the transfer of management control from the government to private owners, will be negotiated to adequately protect employees, but enforcing job quota is neither desirable nor legally possible, they added on condition of anonymity.
Citing a policy document of the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (Dipam) one of them said a “trade off” is possible.
