Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Nov 16: Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh has asked the State Governments to expedite the process of abolition of interviews for recruitment to all such government jobs where it is not essential.
Addressing a one-day workshop of Principal Secretaries of GAD / Personnel from different States, Dr Jitendra Singh observed that soon after the Prime Minister Narendra Modi made an announcement to this effect on Independence Day from the ramparts of Red Fort, the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT) had immediately moved on a fast track and fixed for itself the deadline of 31st December,2015 to abolish the practice of conducting interview for appointment to Group ‘B’ and Group ‘C’ posts in various Ministries/Department and other organizations including Public Sector Undertaking (PSUs) under the Central Government. On the 4th of September, Secretary DoPT wrote to the Chief Secretaries of all the States and this was followed by a two-day Workshop in the union capital on 8th and 9th of September.
Dr Jitendra Singh recalled that he had personally written D.O.Letters to Chief Ministers of all the States on 29th September requesting them to take a lead in carrying forward this initiative. While some of the States have already made a big headway in this exercise, there are other States which seem slow in response, but were expected to take the matter seriously and on fast track, he said. In his letter to the Chief Ministers, he had also requested to involve Public Service Commissions and other recruiting agencies in their respective States to identify the posts for which interview can be discontinued, he added.
The objective behind the abolition of interview for appointments where it is not required, Dr Jitendra Singh said, was to ensure more objective selection in a transparent manner without causing disadvantage to poor or resourceless aspirants. This is one of the several path – breaking decisions taken by the DoPT during the last 17 months, which also include the abolition of attestation of certificates with introduction of self-attestation of certificates and the decision to revisit/revise the pattern and syllabus of IAS/Civil Services Examination, he added.
Union Secretary DoPT Sanjay Kothari, Establishment Officer Rajiv Kumar, Union Additional Secretaries Jacob, Sanjeevani Kutty, Joint Secretary Devesh Chaturvedi and other senior officers of DoPT conducted the various sessions of the day-long workshop.
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