The Employment Exchange was set up under the provision of International Labour Organisation to provide jobs to unemployed youths. However, officials feel that following the implementation of the court directive, its role will be marginalised.

As per the directive, the establishment will have to advertise vacancies through newspapers with wider circulation besides displaying it on notice boards. The announcement of posts through electronic media and ``employment news'' bulletins can be considered for the same.

The Administration says the Employment Exchange will send the names of the candidates to the requisitioning authority as usual for the selection.

Going by the record supplied by the Administration, more than one lakh unemployed youths are registered with the local Employment Exchange. Out of these, 19,000 matriculates, 12,000 youth who have completed plus two, 14,000 graduates and 5,000 postgraduates have been waiting for jobs since years. Though several steps have been taken during the past few years to create job opportunities, the backlog of 1984-85 has not been cleared.

Exchange officials supervising the registration and placement said that names of eligible candidates were being sent to the requisitioning authority as usual on demand. ``The effect on the functioning of the exchange will be visible only later on,'' they added.

Ramraj, one of the five persons whose name was registered in the Employment Exchange way back in 1988, has been selected for a post of peon in Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh. When asked to comment on how the Employment Exchange would be affected after implementation of the fresh directive, he said that it would lead to corruption, nepotism and favouritism.

``We, the common people, will be worst affected'', he said and added that it was better to wind up the Exchange rather than fool the unemployed youth. Another youth said that the directive had overburdened the establishment and made it difficult for it to select one person from thousands of applicants.

A City employer, while welcoming the decision, said there should be transparency during the selection of the candidate.