TNSACS rejects regularisation plea as AIDS control staff cite DMK manifesto
The employees are engaged under the National AIDS Control Programme (NACP), which delivers HIV prevention, testing and treatment services across Tamil Nadu.
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CHENNAI: Contract employees under the Tamil Nadu State AIDS Control Society (TNSACS) have renewed their demand for job regularisation, citing the ruling DMK’s 2021 State Assembly election manifesto.
The employees are engaged under the National AIDS Control Programme (NACP), which delivers HIV prevention, testing and treatment services across Tamil Nadu. They include pharmacists, laboratory technicians, staff nurses, counsellors, data managers, support staff working in ART (Antiretroviral Therapy) centres, Integrated Counselling and Testing Centres (ICTCs), district AIDS prevention and control units and community outreach programmes.
“There are around 2,400 workers in TN. Many have nearly 15-20 years of service, but they’re still on contract,” says M Chellarathan, state general secretary, Tamil Nadu AIDS Control All Employees Welfare Association. “Though the contracts are renewed every year, they’ve been doing the same work for decades without pension, medical cover or assured continuity of service.”
In a reply to the association, TNSACS said that the demand for job regularisation could not be considered as the programme was a Central Sector scheme implemented as per guidelines issued by the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) under the Union Health Ministry. “The programme will conclude in March 2026, with the State AIDS Control Society functioning only as an implementing agency,” it stated. “Under NACO’s staffing norms, all personnel were appointed on a purely contractual basis, for a fixed purpose and duration, with consolidated pay. There is no provision to regularise, absorb or extend these posts beyond the programme period.”
The association has questioned this position in light of the DMK’s manifesto, which, under promise no 153, said the government would consider regularising contract and temporary workers with over 10 years of service in government departments and government-controlled bodies, including the Tamil Nadu AIDS Control Board. “If there was no scope at all, why was it mentioned in the manifesto?” Chellarathan asked.
