BENGALURU: After a gap of close to two years, the state government has started calling for applications to fill a large number of posts in several departments which have been lying vacant. Yet, the process will now be delayed further as the Administrative Reforms Commission - 2 (ARC-2), which is stressing on abolishing some posts in the government sector, has to submit its report. The delay will continue to affect services for the citizens, while increasing the burden on the existing staff.
The state government had stopped recruitments for various reasons, including the pandemic that had impacted the revenue collection. Several departments, including those which directly deal with the people, were functioning with a much-reduced staff strength. This resulted in delays in implementing various schemes.
CS Shadakshari, president, Karnataka State Government Employees’ Association, said the sanctioned posts are 7.2 lakh, of which 2.6 lakh are vacant. “One can imagine the burden on the existing staff. At least 40,000 posts called by various departments in the past are before courts, and until courts give their nod, these posts cannot be filled,’’ he said.
With economy bouncing back, recruitments on
According to him, over the last few months, the state government has started issuing notifications calling for filling up of posts through the Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC) in large numbers, which included 15,000 school teachers from Primary and Secondary Education Department, 1,200 Assistant professors in Higher Education Department, around 1,500 engineers from the Public Works Department (PWD) and 2,000 First Division Assistants from various departments, which are in different stages of being filled.
But some are sceptical about the recruitment process getting complete anytime soon as the ARC headed by ex-Chief Secretary TM Vijay Bhaskar has recommended abolishing many posts. Guruswamy, president, Karnataka State Secretariat Employees’ Association, said the government has called for filling up of posts, and if ARC has recommended abolition of same posts, it would lead to chaos which is why officials in many departments are delaying filling up vacancies, he added.
The state government has started the recruitment process as the economy is bouncing back. Chief Secretary P Ravikumar said that in the last two years, recruitment was not done in most departments, and several posts are lying vacant due to retirement and other reasons. Asked about the abolition of many posts by ARC and if it would clash with the recruitment process, he said it would not as most recruitments are at the entry level and are mostly field jobs. “We cannot freeze or delay recruitments as government has to function,’’ he added.
7.2 lakh Number of sanctioned posts
4.6 lakh Number of people working
2.6 lakh Number of vacancies