While the jobs-for-cash rackets are doing the rounds in the State with more victims coming forward and registering their complaints before the police, an eerie silence prevails over the future course of action on the recruitment front and questions keep doing the rounds about whether hiring will be done exclusively through the Goa Staff Selection Commission (SSC). The picture remains hazy after reports emerged of a directive from the Centre to the State leadership last month to consider department-level hiring. Against the developments unfolding lately, the recruitment has been on everyone’s mind, even at the level of local bodies.
Consider this. The Margao Municipal Council has 13 vacancies to be filled. The recruitment process has started with the submission of forms, but there is no clarity on which way it is headed. It remains a question mark whether the government will direct the SSC to take over or engage an independent agency, with even the city fathers clueless.
It may be noted, that massive recruitment discrepancies have been witnessed in the past over filling vacancies at civic bodies with councillors using their clout to get their family members in. Lest we forget, in August 2023, the director of urban development cancelled the recruitment process for 43 LDC posts based on a note put up by Urban Development Minister Vishwajit Rane who maintained that recruitment to all civic bodies will be done by the government, after it came to light that there were discrepancies.
Cut into 2024, and there is still uncertainty over the recruitment process with the council relying on government agencies to take it forward. The question is why there is no clarity to the process even after 15 months. The path should have been defined while lifting the embargo on recruitment when an advertisement was issued for the vacancies. Moreover, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant is on record for saying that all Class C posts will be filled only through the Staff Selection Commission.
The hesitation in taking the SSC route can be interpreted in several ways, but on top of that is the loss of political capital for those supposed to benefit from the system. The biggest pitfall here is that a ‘biased’ system has consequences akin to those witnessed in jobs-for-cash cases that are mushrooming. When positions are filled based on connections or influences rather than merit, the resultant inefficiency is bound to reflect in delivery and public satisfaction.
The current development in Margao is in sync with the job climate in the State. Fulfilling political commitments through a job is equally criminal because merit is ignored, and transparency is relegated to the dustbin. Rane stepped in because there was manipulation. The trend in local bodies undermines the integrity of systems and exposes the manipulative nature of processes. We cannot allow recruitment processes to be dominated by cronyism because eventually deserving candidates will lose faith in the system and we will get a workforce that is a complete misfit.
The responsibility lies with the government to prioritise the common good over political expediency. Amid the din of compromised jobs, transparency becomes paramount and hence the government must route all vacancies, including those in local bodies, through an independent agency, preferably SSC. It’s time to clear the mess and give the system a much-needed reboot.
