Facing EC hurdle, Saini vows 24K jobs before oath

Tribune News Service

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Chandigarh, August 31

Firing a fresh salvo at the Congress today, Haryana CM Nayab Singh Saini said the Haryana Staff Selection Commission (HSSC) had prepared the results to fill 24,000 vacancies. He added if the Congress’ ‘Bharti Roko Gang’ and Jairam Ramesh retracted their complaint to the Election Commission, it would immediately declare the results.

With rising unemployment and over 1 lakh vacancies in the government sector becoming a poll issue, the state BJP has trained its guns on the Congress for stalling recruitment by complaining to the Election Commission.

“I assure the youth of Haryana that after October 4, I will take oath later… these 24,000 youth would join their jobs before me,” claimed Saini.

Following Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh’s complaint about the HSSC carrying out recruitment despite the code of conduct in place, the commission, on August 21, had directed the state government “not to declare the results” until the completion of the Assembly elections.

When contacted, HSSC Chairman Himmat Singh said, “The recruitment for around 38,000 posts are going on. Of these, exams for about 24,000 posts have been taken and results have been prepared.”

After the Election Commission’s order barring the declaration of the results, the HSSC had written to the Chief Secretary on August 22, seeking permission to declare the results of JE posts (Groups 1 and 2), graduate-level posts (Group 56), and 10+2 level posts (Group 57).

It pointed out that the examination schedule of some Group C posts had already been issued, and the whole process had to be completed by November, as per the orders of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Moreover, the HSSC had scheduled the written test for 5,000 posts of police constable for August 25.

However, the Election Commission, vide its order, dated August 30, directed “final result of recruitment may be declared” after the elections to the Haryana Legislative Assembly as there was sufficient time available for compliance with the court’s directions. “The results of intermediate stages of recruitment, however, may be declared by the HSSC,” it added.

Himmat Singh said that the HSSC would pursue the matter again after taking legal opinion.

Meanwhile, Jairam Ramesh has filed another complaint, this time against Himmat Singh. On August 28, he wrote to the Election Commission to take strict action against the HSSC chairperson for his “politically motivated statements”. He claimed that Himmat Singh had tried to portray the Congress as “anti-youth”.

Reacting to Saini’s statement, Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda said, “The BJP is misleading youth. Over 2 lakh posts are vacant in government departments. For the last 10 years, BJP is responsible for the rise in unemployment.”

Former Union minister Kumari Selja stated, “Slogan-chanting BJP government kept making announcements for recruitment. It should issue a white paper and inform the public what it has done in its nearly 10-year tenure.”