Roughly speaking fifty per cent of vacancies in state service have remained unfilled over a period of over five years in the past. It is the cumulative statistics of the SS Board and the Public Service Selection. The recruitment process in the State has come under severe criticism not only from the civil society and the media but even from the representatives of the people including those belonging to the treasury benches. The Finance Minister’s reply to questions in the Assembly on behalf of the Chief Minister, who is in charge of the General Administration, said that the major reason for delay and deferment of selection to the vacancies was that there were many court cases pending final decision. This is precisely what we would have touched upon even if he had not said it. The Minister, who is fast on giving statistical data, adopted total silence in telling us the number of the cases pending in the courts of law. We would like to know the level of such court cases in comparison to other states which, too, have SS Boards. There should be a strong and pervasive reason that forces litigation in the area of selection of candidates to fill advertised vacancies. The Finance Minister categorically denied that there was Government interference in the matter of selection of candidates. We would like to remind him that only recently two major cases of backdoor entry to fill the Government vacancies came to notice in which hundreds of clandestine recruitment was made in contravention of stipulated rules. Not only had that happened even the Government, when hard pressed, ordered inquiry into these illegal appointments. On the intervention of the High Court, illegally appointed candidates had to be sent home packing. How can the Finance Minister claim that there is no interference from the Government quarters?
One of the major reasons why the number of court cases in this connection is ever burgeoning is regional discrimination. Despite many checks and balances, the general complaint is that discrimination on regional basis is rampant in the SSB. Since the MLAs are unable to undo the discrimination, the affected candidates are left with no alternative but to knock at the door of the courts. Then as we know the judicial system in our country is so complicated that it takes years for the court to establish whether discrimination has been done or not. By that time either the candidates become over-aged or lose interest thinking that seeking justice in this State is a rather impossible thing to achieve.
One of the recurring problem with the SSB is deficiency of Board Members and perhaps also of the staff. As far as the former reason, it is any body’s guess that the Government deliberately delays nominating full Board. The reason is that since the SSB is not an autonomous entity, the Government will select only those people who are willing to carry forward its diktat. There are no well defined rules for making the selection. Just honesty and good record are not the only criterion for selection with the Government. More often than not political affiliation and antecedents or the level of political clout of a certain member are taken into account. In this process, a lot of time is consumed and the Board fails to have full strength of members. Ultimately the brunt is borne by the candidates who have to wait endlessly and if by chance they are called for interview, none of them is sure that there will be selection on the basis of merit.
The crucial matter is that of the autonomy of the SSB. The Government has unambiguously stated that the question of making the SSB autonomous is not under its consideration. As long as that does not happen, expecting fair deal from the Board is wishing the moon. While making the selection of the members of the Board, the Government is supposed to keep in mind fair representation to under-privileged segments of society like Gujjars, Bakarwals, Scheduled Castes, Schedules Tribes, Border residents, militancy victims and others. It is practically difficult to find qualified and meritorious persons from these communities who can fulfil the task of being on the Selection Board and deliver justice to the candidates of their communities and others. We would very much like that society is not divided into these compartments and that efficiency of administration is not diluted. But this is the harsh reality on the ground and we have to accept it in any way. Still the minorities are left out of the loop because the State Constitution does not recognize any minority in the State. It is a different matter that in all other states of the country, minorities are always given space, but these are swept away in our State.
In final analysis we would advise the Government to bring about drastic changes in the entire structure and philosophy of SSB and state PSC. The system that has been set up six decades ago cannot work and does not work. The sooner it is revolutionized the better.
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