Ban on recruitment to state jobs lifted

Maharashtra chief minister Sushilkumar Shinde announced a direct recruitment drive to fill 80 per cent of the vacancies in state administration jobs in the open category and 20 per cent in the backward caste reserved category.

An estimated 50,000 new recruitments in the open category are expected to be filled up the decision. Shinde said the cabinet decision effectively lifts the ban on fresh recruitments imposed by the DF government four and a half years ago.

The posts that will be filled include those that lapsed in the past six months, Shinde said. A government stipulation automatically results in vacancies getting lapsed if fresh recruitments are not effected for more than six months. This stipulation has also been reversed now.

Shinde said of the direct open category recruitments, 80 per cent would be through fresh applications, while the remaining 20 per cent would be from the surplus cadre cell set up by the state to detect excess staff in various departments.

Currently in excess of 30,000 government department officials have been identified as surplus and transferred to the surplus cadre cell.

"The finance department will have to provide the names of the excess staff within one month of floating of the recruitment process for vacancies, failing which those posts will also be filled by direct recruitment," Shinde said.