PANAJI:
The appointment of a non-Goan member to the Goa Public Service Commission (GPSC) has created controversy, with one Krishna Pandit raising concerns that current GPSC member Udaysinh Raorane is a political appointee without the mandatory knowledge of Konkani.
In his letter to Goa Governor P S Sreedharan Pillai, Pandit has called for Raorane’s termination, also alleging that he continues to hold his position as Deputy Registrar at the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences, Nashik while serving in Goa.
“The appointment of Dr. Raorane as GPSC member is purely on the basis of political partisanship and caste considerations. He lacks knowledge of Konkani, administrative experience, etc to be appointed as a member of the GPSC. It needs to be also ascertained as to whether he applied to be a member of the GPSC or the appointment is arbitrarily processed by some officials of the government or the CM without conducting any inquiry or scrutiny,” reads the letter, which is backed by information obtained under the RTI Act.
Ironically, the GPSC that insists on having mandatory knowledge of Konkani during the recruitment of candidates to various gazetted posts in State departments now has a non-Konkani-speaking official on Board. The appointment was approved during a cabinet meeting held in the second quarter of the year.
Alleging that the current non-Goan member does not meet the necessary qualifications for the position, Pandit has warned to approach the Court challenging the appointment if necessary action is not taken at the earliest.
The letter, also submitted to the Chief Minister, Chief Secretary and the GPSC Chairman, has requested the government to frame guidelines and parameters for the appointment of the GPSC Chairman and members while emphasizing the need for the government to establish a memorandum of procedure and administrative guidelines to prevent arbitrary appointments and ensure a qualified selection process.
The Commission has always been functioning with one Chairman and member, except on one occasion when an additional member was appointed for a short period.
