Kochi Corporation initiates steps to make contingent workers permanent

At the conclusion of a council meeting held on Monday (October 6, 2025), Mayor M. Anilkumar called for division-level seniority lists of workers engaged in sanitation and waste management. The health superintendent has been instructed to submit a list of workers appointed through the employment exchange, as well as those appointed by councillors, and who have been working on daily wages for years. As vacancies arise, names from the list will be forwarded to the government.

During the tenure of UDF Mayor Tony Chammany in 2010 and his successor Soumini Jain, 776 daily-wage workers were made permanent. Though those appointments were made following a court directive, the court also mandated that future appointments should be made through the employment exchange.

Nevertheless, many workers continued to be employed on daily wages through the councillors. In the interim, the previous council decided to regularise 140 contingent workers engaged through the employment exchange. This decision was challenged in court by 121 workers who had been employed through councillors, including those who had been working on daily wages for 13 years.

The Mayor requested a comprehensive list of all contingent workers, following demands from the Opposition councillors during the meeting that they also be considered for permanent appointment.

Mr. Anilkumar said that the Corporation was not opposed to including impoverished workers in the casual labour list. He added that the list should be submitted within 10 days, after which it would be forwarded to the government.