Government to review PM initiative status in states

In a significant step, the Centre is all set to review the steps taken by states to implement one of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s key initiatives of discontinuation of interviews for recruitment at junior level posts as well as their response to the CBI’s repeated requests of nominating officials willing to join the premier investigating agency on deputation basis as it is facing an acute shortage of staff.

Considering the fact that the CBI is currently investigating some high profile cases, like the Vyapam and Ponzi scam, it urgently requires personnel ranging from constables to inspectors to superintendent of police (SP) so that investigations don’t suffer due to lack of personnel and can be fast-tracked, sources privy to the development said.

Recently, the government had also sanctioned 598 new posts for CBI for investigation into the Vyapam scam cases and chit fund or Ponzi scam cases. However, these posts have not been filled up so far.

According to highly placed sources, minister for personnel, public grievances and pension Jitendra Singh will hold a meeting with all the states’ principal secretaries (personnel department) on April 22 to seek their responses on these key issues.

Mr Modi in his Independence Day speech last year had called for discontinuation of the practice of holding interviews for recruitment for such junior level posts where personality assessment is not an absolutely necessary requirement. Instead he had suggested that recruitment should be done on merit basis through transparent, online processes leading to less government and more governance.

Subsequently the Central department of personnel and training (DoPT) decided to discontinue interviews at the junior level posts at Group “B” (non-gazetted), Group “C”, Group “D” (which are now reclassified as Group “C”) and all equivalent posts in Central ministries, autonomous bodies as well as in PSUs from January 1, 2016 onwards. The states were also asked to follow suit in their respective departments.

While around 15 states, like Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan among others, had during a workshop conducted by the DoPT on November 16 last year, informed that they have stopped the interviews as part of recruitment at junior level posts, the Centre is keen to know as to how seriously all the 29 states as well as Union Territories have adopted the measure till now.

The meeting on April 22 is likely to seek the states’ latest data in this regard.