Fresh External Contract Hiring Suspended

In response to job cuts from recent Organization and Management (O&M) surveys, the government has issued a stringent seven-point directive to restructure contract employment across all state ministries.

Retired government pensioners and gratuity beneficiaries on contract will not be eligible for extensions and will be officially phased out starting on July 17, 2026, according to a Cabinet resolution enforced by the Ministry of Public Administration on Friday.

The government has completely stopped employing new external contract workers for open or newly established positions in order to manage the remaining workforce. Rather, the Ministry will maintain a centralised “pool” of active non-pensioner contract workers.

All state agencies, including those going through mergers or dissolutions, are now required to use just this current worker pool to meet their demands for asset protection and temporary staffing.