JSEB aspirants' stir enters sixth day
TNN 13 October 2009,
RANCHI: The indefinite hunger strike staged by the Jharkhand State Electricity Board (JSEB) aspirants entered its sixth day on Tuesday.

Over four dozen candidates, who had cleared the written examination and the interview for the posts of assistant electrical and assistant executive engineers, are still waiting for their appointment letters despite the fact that the agency, which conducted the examination, Xavier Labour Relations Institute (XLRI), cleared the names of 135 candidates against the said posts.

Interestingly, the JSEB had placed advertisements for the aforementioned posts in October 2008. The selected candidates are sitting on hunger strike outside the board headquarters here. Much to their disappointment, the JSEB has refused to accept the XLRI's result.

Speaking to TOI, director, public relations, JSEB, C M Sharma said that there were technical glitches in issuing appointment letters to the selected candidates as the board never published any selection list.

"XLRI uploaded a list of selected candidates on its website despite the fact that the JSEB never initiated any process for the said appointments," he said and added that the agitating candidates are unnecessarily raising a hue and cry over the matter.

Unwilling to give any definite time frame by when the board proposes to make the appointments against the posts, Sharma said that the number of appointments may vary in comparison to the number of vacancies announced in the said advertisements.

On the request of the JSEB, the XLRI had conducted test and interview on December 14, 2008 and uploaded the list of 135 candidates against the vacancy of 40 posts of assistant executive engineers (A1 category), 85 posts of assistant electrical engineers (A2 category) and 10 posts of assistant electrical engineers (A3 category). The results were uploaded on February 7, 2009.

After waiting for the appointment letters for several months, the selected candidates from different parts of the state joined hands in May 2009 and met JSEB chairman A K Chugh to ascertain the reason behind the delay in their appointment. The aspirants were asked to wait for 10 days.

When nothing happened till August 2009, the candidates sat on a hunger strike before the Raj Bhavan here on August 26. The JSEB then initiated fresh talks and assured the aspirants for the second time that the appointment letters would be issued to them after seeking legal opinion within 10 days.

One of the successful candidates, Amar Kumar, said that they tried to meet the chairman once again but were denied access. On September 29, Chugh reportedly assured the candidates to issue appointment letters within a week. However, nothing positive emerged. This enraged the candidates who once again gathered in Ranchi and sat on an indefinite hunger strike outside the JSEB headquarters.