Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Oct 15 : Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh today stated that lateral entry recruitments by the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT) are being done through proper UPSC selection.
Commenting on the recommendation for lateral recruitment of 31 candidates to the posts of Joint Secretaries and Directors in Government of India, the Minister said, lateral recruitments have been taking place since 1960s and the most notable lateral entry appointments were those of Dr Manmohan Singh as Chief Economic Advisor in 1972 and later as Secretary in the Ministry of Finance in 1976 when Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister. Some of the other important lateral entry appointments made during the earlier regimes include that of Dr Montek Singh Ahluwalia as Economic Advisor in 1979 and later as Special Secretary to Prime Minister and Commerce Secretary in 1990
It goes to the credit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said Dr Jitendra Singh, that in order to institutionalize the selection process and also to make it more objective, it was decided that the entire process will be conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). Accordingly, he said, in the present case also, UPSC issued an advertisement for lateral recruitment to 3 posts of Joint Secretary and 27 posts of Director on 6th February, 2021, while further issued advertisement on 9 March 2021 for 13 posts of Deputy Secretary. In response, a total of 295 applications for Joint Secretary level posts, 1247 applications for Director level posts and 489 for Deputy Secretary level posts were received. Later, UPSC shortlisted 231 candidates for the interview and on the 8th of this month, 31 candidates were recommended for appointment, he elaborated.
The Minister further stated that proper criteria of eligibility has been laid down based on qualification and the years of experience for a given post. Not only this, he mentioned that pre-appointment formalities have also been incorporated which include Police Verification, IB Clearance etc.
Justifying the lateral recruitment, Dr Jitendra Singh said, such appointments meet the twin objectives of bringing in fresh talent as well as augmenting the availability of manpower. He said, this also helps to select individuals with expertise and specialist domain knowledge for a particular assignment, especially when the government has introduced a number of path-breaking schemes in every sector which require specialised skills for implementation and governance.
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