New Delhi: At a meeting of the secretary of the Central Information Commission (CIC) with the senior officers of department of personnel and training (DoPT), the transparency panel was conveyed that either they stop renewing contracts of outsourced employees or hire them at minimum wages prescribed under the law.

With over 35,000 cases pending and their numbers are counting, any step to do away with the outsourced staff would choke the commission with cases which would be practically impossible to dispose of, the sources said.

An emergency meeting of the information commissioners was held on Friday evening where the issue came for discussion, and it was decided that the matter would be represented before the DoPT afresh.

A former information commissioner said doing away with this outsourced staff would mean crippling the commission as the gestation period for new staff would take about eight to nine months, as they would have to start from scratch