(Representative image)New Delhi: India will lift a ban on private agencies to recruit nurses for the Gulf countries that require emigration clearance, a year after it made three government agencies in Kerala and Tamil Nadu the sole recruiters for overseas appointments.
Protector General of Emigrants M.C. Luther told the Delhi High Court that the order issued by the Ministry of Overseas Indians in March 2015 will be amended to end the monopoly of Kerala’s Norka, Overseas Development and Employment Promotion Consultants (ODEPC) and Tamil Nadu’s Overseas Manpower Corporation Limited in the recruitment of nurses to the 18 countries that require emigration clearance.
Private agency recruitment will be first reinstated to Saudi Arabia and then to the other countries that require emigration clearance, he said. The Protector General of Emigrants, however, said that emigration clearance will continue to be mandatory for nurses seeking employment abroad.
Luther made this revelation before the bench which was hearing a petition by a clutch of private players such as M K Tours and Travels, Hiba Exports, Association of Overseas Recruiting Agents and Sonia International against the order by the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs in March 2015.
Justice Manmohan observed that the order banning private recruiters was not in accordance with the emigration law. When the court said it amounted to discriminating against private players, the Protector General of Emigrants said the government had received a plethora of complaints against private agencies. He will intimate the progress on the shift in policy when the bench takes up the case again on April 27.
Luther said before the bench of Justice Manmohan that he had held discussions with Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and expatriates minister K.C. Joseph on the crisis formed after the order banning private agencies from overseas recruitment. He explained the difficulties faced by the state agencies because they did not have enough employees to oversee the recruitment procedures.
The Protector General of Emigrants, however, said the government will keep a strict watch over overseas recruitment even if private players are allowed to do business again.
While Keertiman Singh appeared on behalf of the central government, the petitioners were represented by Romy Chacko, Joseph Koshy and Kirti Uppal.
