Mumbai: Under fire from the Opposition for hiring people on contract for government jobs, the alliance government in the state has decided to scrap the recruitment process. However, the recruitment by various departments in a need-based manner will continue – this includes the recruitment of 3,000 guards from the Maharashtra State Security Corporation in Mumbai police for 11 months.
A day after a heated argument and discussion in the state cabinet meeting, deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis announced the decision in a press conference on Friday. He also said that the contractual recruitment in government was started by the Congress-led government in 2003 and the empanelment of the nine agencies for the recruitment was first introduced by Prithviraj Chavan-led government in 2013 and subsequent governments just carried it forward.
“The opposition has been trying to create unrest among the youth by spreading false information. The fact is that in March 2003, when Sushilkumar Shinde was the chief minister of Congress government, they allowed such recruitment for the posts of peons, clerks, drivers. The orders were reissued in 2010, January 2011 and September 2013. The Prithviraj Chavan government issued a GR to appoint empanelled agencies, called facility managers, to recruit for 1,069 posts,” Fadnavis said.
The deputy CM said the subsequent government led by him during 2014-19 continued the process of recruiting people through facility managers. He also attacked Uddhav Thackeray, saying that during his tenure as CM, similar GRs were issued in July 2020 and June 2022 for contractual recruitment. “The opposition has been shamelessly targeting us for the sins they have committed. We are scrapping the system as we do not believe in the system and do not want to carry the baggage of the mistakes and sins committed by them. The decision is not taken under pressure from the opposition or due to their protest, it is a corrective step,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}The deputy CM said the subsequent government led by him during 2014-19 continued the process of recruiting people through facility managers. He also attacked Uddhav Thackeray, saying that during his tenure as CM, similar GRs were issued in July 2020 and June 2022 for contractual recruitment. “The opposition has been shamelessly targeting us for the sins they have committed. We are scrapping the system as we do not believe in the system and do not want to carry the baggage of the mistakes and sins committed by them. The decision is not taken under pressure from the opposition or due to their protest, it is a corrective step,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}The Eknath Shinde government had issued a GR on September 6 for empanelment of nine agencies for recruitment of various posts in the government. Sharad Pawar-led NCP, Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) had strongly opposed the drive, terming it to be a step towards the privatisation of government jobs. The Sharad Pawar faction of NCP had undertaken a state wide drive to oppose it. Pawar had said, “It is a step towards privatisation. The contractual recruitment of police is shocking as it will directly hamper the law and order and endanger security,” he had said in Mumbai on Sunday. Pawar had also pointed out that the decision would also deprive underprivileged sections an opportunity to get government jobs through reservation.
Fadnavis, however, clarified that the recruitment done by various departments on a temporary basis for six, nine or eleven onths or as per the requirement of the projects will continue. “The recruitment through empanelment has been scrapped. The powers with the respective departments to recruit people on temporarily will continue,” he said.
Fadnavis also sought to justify his department’s decision of hiring 3,000 policemen from the Maharashtra State Security Corporation (MSSC) on contract basis. “When the corporation was formed during the Congress-led government, the government had said that the applicants failing the police recruitment test could be accommodated as guards in the MSSC. Similarly, when the Mumbai police is in need of personnel, we are borrowing these guards for just 11 months. They will be treated as police in uniform but will be sent back after their term of 11 months,” he said.
He said that Mumbai police force was facing a shortfall of manpower and the newly recruited 7,076 policemen and 994 drivers can join the force only one and a half years after their training.
The decision was taken in the state cabinet meeting on Thursday. Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar reportedly opposed the proposal mooted by Fadnavis.
NCP’s Sharad Pawar faction’s state chief Jayant Patil called the decision a victory of the voice raise by them. “We had undertaken a state-wide protest against the contractual recruitment drive of the state government. This decision is nothing but the victory of our drive against the privatisation of government jobs,” he said.
Leader of opposition in state assembly and Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar said the decision of the contractual recruitment was taken by the Shinde government to benefit a few agencies. “The allegations are levelled against us because we exposed how some of the ruling party leaders were expected to benefit from the recruitment. We never recruited people on contractual basis on sensitive posts like Tehsildar and policemen,” he said.