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Congress slams Haryana government move to abolish posts lying vacant for two years
A February 6 letter from Haryana Finance Department (FD) that says: “All posts whether newly created or old, kept in abeyance or which remain unfilled/vacant for last two years may be considered as deemed abolished.”
Former Haryana chief minister and Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Thursday said the BJP-JJP coalition government has exposed its anti-youth face by abolishing the posts lying vacant for two years in different departments.
“At least 1.82 lakh posts are lying vacant in government departments, but instead of recruiting, the BJP-JJP government is inflicting torture on the youth by abolishing the posts,” Hooda said, pointing out how the youth of Haryana is already facing the highest unemployment in the country.
The CLP leader asked the state government to take back this decision which promotes unemployment, and start recruitment for the vacant posts immediately.
“If the present government does not do this, then after the formation of the Congress government, all the vacant posts will be filled by making permanent recruitments,” he said.
What’s the issue
The CLP leader was referring to a February 6 letter from Haryana Finance Department (FD) that says: “All posts whether newly created or old, kept in abeyance or which remain unfilled/vacant for last two years may be considered as deemed abolished.”
The FD has directed the departments to issue formal orders regarding abolishing the posts in question within one month.
“Revival of post after two years will not be considered in any case,” says the FD letter marked to all the administrative secretaries and heads of departments.
However, in case the department needs these posts, then a fresh proposal for creating a new post after following the prescribed procedure that must contain full functional justification should be forwarded to the FD.
The FD has clarified that these conditions will not be applicable if a post(s) for which the requisition has already been sent to the Haryana Public Service Commission or Haryana Staff Selection Commission.
Also, all the promotional posts will remain out of the ambit of these directions issued as part of “economic measures.”
According to a senior FD officer, this letter was issued after due deliberations keeping in view the fact that a particular post is not required if a department can function without filling a post lying vacant for the past two years.
As per official records, the FD has been issuing instructions in question every year but only with a difference that in the earlier letters, the FD used to direct that “posts lying vacant for more than two years, whether newly created or old, should not be filled up without prior approval of the Finance Department.”
Now, the latest FD letter says posts in question lying vacant for over two years will be “considered as deemed abolished.”
“The FD rarely gave approvals to fill posts lying vacant for more than two years. If you can do without a post that was not filled in the past two years it clearly shows that the concerned department can function without this post,” said an officer who did not wish to be named.
