The Maharashtra cabinet on Tuesday approved a policy to provide 10 per cent parallel reservation to former Agniveers in uniformed Group-C services across various government departments, including the Home, State Excise, Forest, and Urban Development departments.
A high-level secretarial committee, headed by the Chief Secretary of Maharashtra, was formed to oversee the appointments. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis chaired the cabinet meeting.
The committee prepared the policy to provide reservation to former Agniveers who are residents of Maharashtra for recruitment to state government and semi-government security and related services. The reservation will be a compartmentalised horizontal reservation.
If more than 10 per cent reservation is required for certain posts, the high-level secretarial committee can increase the limit, provided that the existing social reservation remains intact.
The central government launched the Agnipath military recruitment scheme for the Indian Armed Forces such as Army, Navy and Air Force, in 2022. Under the scheme, recruits aged 17.5 to 21 years serve in the armed forces for four years.
They receive training in discipline, leadership, technical skills, disaster management, security and organisational procedures. After four years, 25 per cent of Agniveers are permanently inducted into the armed forces based on criteria including performance, discipline and skills.
The uniformed Group-C posts covered by the reservation, according to the concerned departments and establishments, include:
Director General of Police and subordinate establishments: Police Constable, Driver Police Constable, State Police Force and State Reserve Police Force.
Maharashtra Prisons and Correctional Services: Prison Constable.
Directorate of Civil Defence: Firefighter, Rescuer and Assistant Sub-Inspector (Firemen/Rescuer).
Director General, Home Guards: Constable, Junior Director, Mechanical Director, Director and Innovator.
State Intelligence Department: Police Constable, Sailor (Engine Side) and Police Constable Sailor (Desk Side).
State Excise Department: Jawan and Jawan-Non-Driver.
Forest Department: Forest Guard.
Urban Development Department (Municipality): Firefighter and Rescuer.
Former Agniveers will be completely exempted from the written examination for these posts. The cabinet also approved the preparation of a detailed government resolution covering age relaxation, relaxation in the Physical Efficiency Test (PET) and Physical Standard Test (PST), seniority and promotion, as well as training, experience and other skills.
