State government sets up war room in Mantralaya

The Government Resolution (GR) issued on Wednesday clarified that the newly introduced ‘Socially and Educationally Backward Class (SEBC) can avail 16 per cent reservation benefits for the 48 per cent vacancies in government jobs. The state government has set up a war room at Mantralaya to speed up recruitment to 72,000 posts, to implement reservation for the Marathas. The general administrative department (GAD) has been reviewing posts available in various departments and other issues related to the mega recruitment drive. According to an official from GAD, the state plans to conduct recruitment to all posts in a single phase by the end of February next year, instead of recruiting in two phases, as had been decided earlier, before the passage of the Maratha reservation bill in the legislature. The GAD, on Wednesday, issued a government resolution (GR) stating the Marathas would be able to get 16 per cent reservation in the available 48 per cent government posts from the open category. Marathas cannot avail a share of 16 per cent from among the 100 percent vacant posts, according to the GR.

In a bid to woo the SEBC, popularly known as Marathas, the government is not ready to wait until the model code of conduct comes into effect, possibly by February-end and hence, will complete recruitment to all posts before it. These posts will be in agriculture, public health, home, animal husbandry, public works, water resources, water conservation, fisheries and urban development departments.

To handle this mega recruitment drive, the state set up a war room on the seventh floor of the Mantralaya on Wednesday. The first meeting of all concerned departments was held in the war room.

A senior official said,”The state wants to finish the process of recruitment as early as possible. The information and technology (IT) department is playing a key role. The process of recruitment to all 72,000 posts, instead of 36,000 each in two years, has started now and is scheduled to be completed before the code of conduct will be imposed for the Lok Sabha polls.”

The state may issue an order delegating powers to the district collector or tahsildar to fill some posts at the ground level, to save time.

The process of filling 36,000 posts had begun earlier, but was stalled after the Marathas had raised objections, demanding it be deferred until reservation came into force.