Paves way for faster hiring and modern service rules
S Gopal Puri
Dharamshala:
In a major administrative reform, the Himachal Pradesh government on Monday introduced a landmark amendment bill in the state Assembly aimed at completely reshaping recruitment and service rule procedures across all government departments.
The proposed legislation under the Employees Act-2025 is being seen as one of the most significant HR reforms in recent years, designed to cut red tape and ensure faster, transparent, and more efficient hiring.
According to the amendment bill, departments will no longer be required to issue mandatory gazette notifications for routine recruitment rule changes. This long-standing process, considered one of the biggest causes of administrative delay will now be replaced with a simplified in-house approval mechanism. Departments will be empowered to modify, update and adopt service rules directly at their own level.
Officials said that under the current system, even small procedural changes needed months for gazette publication, slowing down hiring cycles, promotions and service adjustments. The new bill seeks to eliminate these bottlenecks, allowing quicker decision-making and smoother functioning across the administrative machinery.
The legislation also removes certain outdated terms and references from older service rule frameworks, bringing uniformity and clarity to government HR policies. Departments will be allowed to amend technical service conditions after a 10-day scrutiny period, enabling them to respond faster to operational needs.
The government maintains that the reform will significantly reduce paperwork, improve departmental autonomy, and modernise personnel management practices. “The aim is to make recruitment processes more efficient, responsive, and aligned with current governance requirements,” the bill’s explanatory note states.
Once passed, the amendment is expected to directly benefit thousands of employees and streamline future recruitment drives across the state.
The bill has been formally introduced in the House and will now be taken up for detailed discussion, marking a crucial step toward administrative modernisation in Himachal Pradesh.
