Time taken in ULBs' recruitment abnormally high: CAG report

Bhartesh Singh Thakur

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Chandigarh, March 23

It took 1,905 days, i.e. more than five years, in the recruitment process of 822 posts of peons, gardeners and watchmen in Haryana’s Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) while 2,471 days were taken, which is close to seven years, for 35 posts of accountants, said the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in its report on ‘Performance Audit of Efficacy of Implementation of 74th Constitutional Amendment Act’.

While commenting on the state of human resources of the ULBs, the CAG report added that the time taken for the recruitment of staff was “abnormally high” and “affected the proper functioning of ULBs”.

The CAG report was tabled before the Haryana Vidhan Sabha on March 22.

The Directorate of Urban Local Bodies (DULB) collects information about vacancies from ULBs and sends it to Haryana Staff Selection Commission (HSSC), which further advertises and recommends candidates for appointment. Finally, the DULB/Commissioner/Deputy Commissioner issues offer of appointments.

During the audit from 2015-16 to 2019-20, the CAG found that DULB itself took 1,720 days (close to five years) in the case of peons, gardeners and watchmen and 1,520 days (over 4 years) in the case of accountants in making need assessment, sending a proposal and attending queries of the HSSC. The state government also put on hold the recruitment process for 155 days while the HSSC took 161 days for sending the selection list of peons, gardeners and watchmen but for accountants, it took 930 days (31 months).

The Municipal Committees of Kundli, Sadhaura, Ismailabad and Bass were constituted from October to December of 2018, while it took more than two years (December 2020) for the sanctioning of various posts in these ULBs.

During the audit period, the CAG found the Executive Officer’s post vacant in two Municipal Corporations, four Municipal Councils and 19 Municipal Committees while in one Municipal Committee it was not even sanctioned.

Adequate specialised manpower, especially in the field of taxation, public health, engineering, accounting and sanitation, is prerequisite for providing better urban services to citizens, said the CAG. With respect to standards fixed by the state government in February 2018, there is 79 per cent vacancy in taxation, 98 per cent in public health, 83 per cent in sanitation, 38 per cent in engineering and 67 per cent in accounting in all ULBs of the state as on January 2020.

The CAG conducted a test-check in 15 ULBs on the number of employees per 1,000 population. It was found that Ambala, Karnal, Yamunanagar, Kaithal, Thanesar, Naraingarh, Gharaunda, Radaur and Pehowa have less than one employee per 1,000 people while Panchkula, Taraori, Assandh, Cheeka and Pundri have between 1 and 2.

The CAG said as per the Haryana Municipal Corporation (HMC) Act, at least one meeting of a ULB House should be held per month.