BHUBANESWAR: In a bid to speed up the process of filling up vacancies in different departments, the State government is planning to conduct combined recruitment examinations by clubbing different tests requiring similar educational qualifications for various Group B and C posts. While the State has more than 1.3 lakh vacancies in different departments, the recruitment delays continue to hamper governance and force their hand into outsourcing employees through third-party agencies.
Since the large-scale vacancies have become a headache for the government at a time when the State is suffering from an employment crisis, the General Administration (GA) department is mulling over a proposal of the Odisha Staff Selection Commission (OSSC) to conduct combined examinations. The OSSC has recommended having one exam for posts with similar qualification and scale of pay.
Sources said the educational qualification for Group B posts prescribed in the relevant recruitment rules is
Bachelors degree in Arts/Science/Commerce/Law from any recognized university while the educational qualification for junior assistants of heads of department (HoD) cadre (Group C) is also Bachelors degree with computer knowledge.The qualification requirement of junior stenographers in HoDs (Group C) prescribed in the relevant recruitment rules is 10+2 in Arts/Science/Commerce with knowledge of stenography.
An official of GA department said the OSSC has apart from clubbing all exams also proposed to conduct objective/MCQ type test in general English and Odia language subjects in place of subjective evaluation as in practice now. This will help streamline and expedite the recruitment process, he said.
Several departments, however, are of the view that since people recruited as junior assistants are required to have reasonable comprehension skills in English language in order to perform their statutory duties effectively, it may not be proper to consider the proposal to replace the current subjective test in English and Odia.
Subjective test is required to assess the language comprehension skills of the applicants. The proposed objective (MCQ) tests in English/Odia language is likely to affect the quality of new recruits adversely, they averred.
“We have sought the suggestions and views from all departments. There should not be any problem in conducting the combined examination for posts of same qualification and same scale of pay. The test for language skills can be taken care of. The decision will be taken once the views from the departments are received,” the official added.