JAIPUR: Over the delay in issuing appointment letters to candidates from the 2012 sanitation worker recruitment drive, Rajasthan Forest Minister Sanjay Sharma staged a sit-in protest at the Municipal Corporation office on Wednesday against administrative officials of his own government.
Sharma accused District Collector Artika Shukla and Municipal Commissioner Sohan Singh Naruka of misleading the process and adopting an autocratic approach.
Sharma said 329 sanitation workers were recruited in 2012 but had not received their appointment letters to date. Despite a High Court order in favour of the candidates in 2019 and the Department of Local Bodies (DLB) deeming them eligible, local officials had continued to delay the matter, citing ongoing correspondence.
During the protest, Sharma questioned Shukla and Naruka over the delay. “When the government has already issued orders, what is the obstacle in issuing appointment letters?” he asked.
Sharma said he had raised the issue with the Urban Development and Housing (UDH) Minister and Akhil Arora, Additional Chief Secretary to the Chief Minister, but the matter remained unresolved.
He also alleged that officials had repeatedly changed the number of eligible candidates — from 100 to 82 and later to 69. Sharma went further, alleging that officials either had no intention of issuing the appointment letters or were deliberately putting pressure on the candidates to meet their alleged unlawful demands.
The agitation began after sanitation workers approached Sharma at his residence on Wednesday morning following their unsuccessful attempt to seek clarity from municipal officials the previous evening. Sharma then accompanied them to the corporation office and joined their protest.
Later, ADM Yogesh Dagur and Municipal Commissioner Naruka reached the protest site with five appointment letters, which Sharma handed over to workers’ representatives, bringing the five-hour dharna to an end. Officials assured that the remaining eligible candidates would receive appointment letters after scrutiny.
The episode drew sharp criticism from the Congress. Former chief minister Ashok Gehlot said it was embarrassing that a Cabinet minister had to protest against his own government’s administration, alleging that ministers had been reduced to “mere rubber stamps”.
Leader of Opposition Tikaram Jully and Rajasthan Congress president Govind Singh Dotasara also cited the episode to question the government’s control over the bureaucracy.
After the protest, however, Sharma blamed the previous Congress government for the prolonged delay. He said the court had ruled in favour of the workers in 2019, when Gehlot was chief minister, but the appointments had remained pending for years.
Sharma said Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma had now ordered the issuance of five appointment letters and the formation of an inquiry committee to scrutinise the documents of the remaining candidates and appoint those found eligible at the earliest.
