Short-staffed, Khattar govt struggling to fill vacancies | Latest News India - Hindustan Times
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Short-staffed, Khattar govt struggling to fill vacancies

Hindustan Times | By, Chandigarh
Dec 10, 2016 12:13 PM IST

The Haryana government is struggling to carry out recruitment of Class-4 employees in government departments, boards and corporations in the state. The understaffing is serious, as out of total 77,370 Class-4 posts (Group D, in official jargon) only about 43,000-odd posts are filled-up. While the number of vacancies has been going up constantly, the state government has not been able to finalise a “workable” recruitment policy.

The Haryana government is struggling to carry out recruitment of Class-4 employees in government departments, boards and corporations in the state.

A senior minister had last week announced the government would recruit 50,000 employees on contract.(HT File Photo)
A senior minister had last week announced the government would recruit 50,000 employees on contract.(HT File Photo)

The understaffing is serious, as out of total 77,370 Class-4 posts (Group D, in official jargon) only about 43,000-odd posts are filled-up. While the number of vacancies has been going up constantly, the state government has not been able to finalise a “workable” recruitment policy. The recruitment-related files of several departments are awaiting decision. The reason: lack of unanimity in the state government on the mode of recruitment.

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Chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar has been keen on filling up these posts through the Haryana Staff Selection Commission (HSSC). The CM is learnt to have voiced his view in meetings, including those with his cabinet colleagues, more than once. However, several of his ministers have been pushing for direct recruitment by the departments, boards and corporations on contract.

SELECTION BY DEPARTMENTS, FRAUGHT WITH DIFFICULTIES

A senior minister had last week announced that the government would recruit 50,000 employees on contract, instead of through contractors, under its outsourcing policy to accelerate the pace of administrative work. There are no official instructions on this so far. The option of recruitment on contract under the outsourcing policy has been available for the past several years, but it is fraught with problems, according to officials.

Under the extant outsourcing policy, the government departments can outsource services such as sanitation, horticulture, maintenance, transport etc to private agencies through tender where regular posts do not exist and carry out recruitment on contract on fixed pay subject to minimum of 8100 per month or on wages fixed by deputy commissioners, whichever is higher, where regular sanctioned posts exist.

However, they have been showing preference for outsourcing of services to private service provider agencies because recruitment on contract through open advertisement is a time-consuming and tedious process.

PROBLEM OF PLENTY, LACK OF COMPETENCY

“Wherever the departments or other government organisations advertise posts and invite applications, they get large number of applications and lack the competency to handle such selection processes,” an IAS officer told Hindustan Times.

The directorate of school education had, for instance, invited applications for 2,900 posts of peon, gardener, chowkidar and waterman in government schools and district offices in April 2016. In response, whopping 5.56-lakh aspirants sent their applications for contractual appointment for one year.

With the sheer number of applicants posing a problem, the department has remained undecided on the selection procedure. Earlier, the previous Congress government had also invited applications for 2,100 posts of peon in board, corporations etc and received 4.30-lakh applications.

A special committee was constituted under a retired IAS officer, but the process was abandoned in the end after interviews were conducted over a period of one year, resulting in an “unfruitful” expenditure of 2 crore. There have been suggestions to hold written exams for such recruitment, but the opinion in the political establishment is divided on taking the exam route for such menial jobs.

The current outsourcing policy, which deals with services through service providers and direct hiring by departments on contract against regular sanctioned posts, was finalised in February 2009. The government has continued with the policy with minor amendments from time to time.

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  • ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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    A senior assistant editor, Navneet Sharma leads the Punjab bureau for Hindustan Times. He writes on politics, public affairs, civil services and the energy sector.

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