RTI Exposure: Recruited, to retire after 2 months
Rakesh Lohumi
Tribune News Service

Shimla, April 1
Incredible it may sound, but it is true. The state electricity board has appointed a candidate who was on the verge of superannuation. Born on April 26, 1951, Rasila Ram Bhardwaj of Kaswar village in Barsar is one of the 102 junior engineers (electrical) selected under the batch-wise recruitments carried out recently. He will have tenure of about two months as the retirement age in the board is 58 years.

Information supplied under the Right to Information (RTI) Act to Dev Ashish Bhattacharya, an RTI activist, reveals that there are nine more such recruits, all ex-servicemen, who will serve the board for less than five years. The maximum age for recruitment to government service is 45 years. However, the government has been allowing relaxation in age for various posts in a selective and arbitrary manner. Recently, it allowed relaxation in age up to 50 years for the posts of ayurvedic doctor.

The board called 22 over-aged candidates for interview, including Sudershan Kumar (date of birth, November 20, 1950) of Chakmoh (Barsar) and Krishan Pal (January 11, 1951) of Basdera (Una), who turned 58 before selection process was over. The name of another over-aged candidate Surinder Kumar of Mudkar village in Bhoranj, who appeared for the interview, is missing from the list supplied under the RTI Act. It shows a “senseless” approach in making recruitments and also the callous attitude of the board in dealing with RTI queries, says Bhattacharya. If those with two months to go for superannuation could be selected, why the over-aged candidates, who will serve for more than 10 years, be not selected by granting age-relaxation, he says.

The state Electricity Regulatory Commission had pulled up the board for indifferent cadre management and directed it to carry out recruitments to meet the shortfall of technical manpower as it was affecting its functioning. “One wonders, if the recruitment of such over-aged technical hands will serve any useful purpose,” he says.

There is no firm policy for batch-wise recruitment and age relaxation. Everything depends on the whims and fancies of political bosses. Batch-wise recruitment of junior engineers has been made in the board only twice over the past 20 years.

Earlier, 41 junior engineers were appointed through batch-wise recruitment in 2000. In the instant case, 98 posts, 72 of electrical and 20 of computer science and electronics professionals, were advertised against which already 121 posts have been filled and the process is on to fill a few others. All this puts a question mark over the entire recruitment policy of the board.