Maharashtra minister orders probe as recruitment exams for 6,200 vacant posts cancelled

The Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government is facing ire after it postponed recruitment exams to fill up over 6,000 vacant posts in the state health department at the eleventh hou

The Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government is facing ire after it postponed recruitment exams to fill up over 6,000 vacant posts in the state health department at the eleventh hour. The recruitment exams were scheduled on Saturday and Sunday to fill up vacant positions for nurses, technicians, ward boys among others that fall under Class ‘C’ and ‘D’ categories. However, they were cancelled on late Friday evening, which led to aggrieved reactions.

The recruitment exams in Maharashtra were scheduled on Saturday and Sunday to fill up vacant posts for nurses, technicians, ward boys among others that fall under Class ‘C’ and ‘D’ categories (HT PHOTO)

State health minister Rajesh Tope blamed the firm which had been outsourced the work for failing to complete the preparations well in time. He apologised to the students and said that the next schedule for examinations will be declared in the coming days. He also promised action against the firm after conducting a probe.

The exercise for filling up the vacant positions was started as part of the state’s preparations for the potential third wave that may hit by December or January.

Nearly 800,000 applicants have enrolled for the recruitment examinations for filling up 6,205 vacant posts for Class C and D categories. The vacant posts under Class C category comprise staff nurses, auxiliary nursing midwives, pharmacists, laboratory technicians, X-Ray technicians, laboratory assistants and others while Class D category posts include ward boys, sweepers and other supporting staff, the officials said.

The health minister said, “The examinations were postponed owing to the incompetence of the firm — Nyasa Communications Private Limited (NCPL) — which failed to complete the preparations till Friday evening. I also personally visited a school (exam centre) at Selu in Parbhani district to review exam preparations and found that seating arrangements were made for 600 to 700 applicants, where 1,000 applicants were expected to appear from there.”

“The firm told us they won’t be able to complete the preparations and applicants will have to face difficulties during examinations. After discussing the issue with chief minister Uddhav Thackeray and deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, we decided to postpone exams for a few days as there were many discrepancies in the seating arrangement, training of invigilators among others. I want to apologize to all those who had to face hardship due to the decision,” Tope said.

NCPL is part of a list of empanelled firms prepared by the state information technology (IT) department. As per the procedure, the departments will have to select the firms from the empanelled list of firms for holding recruitment examinations.

The health minister clarified as the health department their role was limited only to set up question papers, the rest of the preparations that include exam centres, hall tickets, seating arrangement, exam supervisor, their training among others was with the outsources firm.

The firm failed to complete the preparations on time. The matter will be investigated and action will be taken accordingly, Tope told reporters on Saturday.

Former chief minister and leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis demanded action against the guilty. He said that the students are very upset with the mess created over examinations. “During his social media interaction on Facebook, the health minister clearly said that exams will be conducted on Saturday. Following this, students (staying far off from exam centres) left their homes to appear for examinations that were suddenly cancelled on Friday evening. I am unable to understand the functioning of this government. It also cannot shrug off its responsibility in the name of an outsourced firm,” Fadnavis told reporters.

Pravin Darekar, leader of Opposition in the legislative council alleged the state health department changed tender conditions to ensure NCPL is appointed. “It is a major scam, which got exposed. All those responsible for it such as health minister, health secretary, director, IT minister, minister of state and IT secretary should be investigated by either CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation), CID (crime intelligence department) or retired justice,” Darekar demanded.