3 months after applying, job seekers left in dark as Margao council's recruitment stalls

Job seekers make a beeline in the corridors of the Margao Municipal Council to submit their application forms for the 13 posts of LDCs, mason and site supervisor.

Photo Credits: File photo/The Goan

MARGAO
The recruitment process initiated by the Margao Municipal Council (MMC) to fill 13 vacant posts, including 11 lower division clerks (LDCs), one mason, and a senior site supervisor, remains shrouded in mystery three months after the applications were submitted.

The 1500-plus applications received for the 13 vacant posts continue to remain under “lock and key”. The fate of the recruitment process remains uncertain, leaving young job seekers high and dry.

Consider this: In response to the advertisement issued by the Margao Municipal Council in October 2024, hundreds of job seekers had made a beeline in the corridors of the Civic body before the expiry of the last date to submit application forms on November 11.

Margao Municipal Chairperson Damu Shirodkar and the Municipal officials were quick to inform the media that the number of applications for the 13 vacant posts could easily surpass the 1500-figure mark.

Exactly three months down the line, the 1500-odd applications remain under lock and key in the Civic body. Take note, the applications from the job seekers are all locked in the cupboard not in the Chamber of the Municipal Chief Officer or the administration section, but in the chamber of the Civic Chief Damu Shirodkar.

That’s not all. It will be three months on Tuesday since the Municipality received the applications on November 11. To date, however, MMC Chief Officer Melvyn Vaz has not initialled all the application forms.

That the application forms are under lock and key in the cupboard in the chamber of the Municipal Chairperson and that the Chief Officer has still not initialled the 1500-odd application forms has become a talking point in the corridors of the Civic body and outside.

For, questions are being raised in the Municipal building as to what has prevented the Chief Officer from putting his initial on the 1500-odd application forms for the 13 vacant posts. “It is indeed a matter of surprise that the application forms are kept in the cupboard in the chamber of the Municipal Chairperson when the recruitment process is a purely administrative exercise, falling in the domain of the Chief Officer,” remarked a Civic official.

The official added: “What is more surprising is that the application forms are locked in the cupboard in the Chairperson’s chamber when the Chief Officer is yet to initial all the forms to date.”

When 'The Goan' called up MMC Chief Officer Melvyn Vaz to shed light on reports that he has still not put his initial on the 1500-odd job applications, he replied in the affirmative. He, however, hastened to add that he has been preoccupied with routine administrative work, besides conducting hearings on quasi-judicial matters. “It is a fact that I have put my initial on only a few job applications to date,” the Chief Officer admitted. He, however, declined to comment on how the job application forms are locked in the cupboard inside the Municipal Chairperson’s chamber to date.

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Agency for conducting CBT? No clarity on examination process

MARGAO: When the Margao Municipal Council embarked on the exercise to recruit the 11 lower division clerks (LDCs) in October last year, the civic body faced criticism from many quarters for not filling up the vacancies via the Staff Selection Commission to ensure transparency.

Three months down the line, questions are being asked in the municipal corridors as to whether the civic body will adopt the Staff Selection Commission’s recruitment guidelines while filling up the vacant posts.

In fact, it isn’t clear to date how the MMC will go about the examination process and whether an agency will be roped in to hold the examination, including the Computer-Based Test (CBT).

When this question was posed to Chief Officer Melvyn Vaz by 'The Goan', he was quick to point out that the MMC has no logistics to conduct the examinations, including the CBT for the 1500-odd candidates vying for the posts.

This has only raised a question or two as to why the civic body is dilly-dallying in shortlisting an agency to conduct the examination. “I have nothing to say on the examination schedule or which agency will conduct the exams. The council will take a call on shortlisting agencies that have, in the recent past, conducted examinations for both government and semi-government departments,” Vaz said.

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Recruitment under scanner over 'political interference'

MARGAO: Margao Municipal Council’s recruitment process to fill up the 13 vacant posts of LDCs, mason and site supervisor has come under the scanner of citizens on two counts:

One, a similar exercise initiated by the Margao municipality was shot down by the government upon instructions from Urban Development Minister Vishwajit Rane. The Urban Development Minister had got the recruitment process cancelled through the Director, Urban Development on the grounds that the LDCs would be recruited through the Staff Selection Commission.

Secondly, the recruitment process is under citizens’ scrutiny because a couple of ruling BJP councillors have lobbied with the powers that be for LDC posts for their siblings in return for extending support to the party to form the Council in 2022.

It’s another matter that the powers that be have refuted this allegation, promising to conduct the recruitment process in a transparent manner.