PANJIM: The scam-tainted Power department, now faces a vigilance complaint of rigging the selection process of junior stenographers. Under – in what now appears – the not so honourable Power Minister Milind Naik, the process of selection was manipulated to bring in influential candidates believed to be close to Naik leaving aside deserving candidates within the department.
Vacant posts of junior stenographers were filled in the Electricity Department in June 2015. A complaint filed on October 1, 2015 with the Director and the SP (Anti-Corruption Branch) of the Directorate of Vigilance by a staffer of the department, alleges that the process was rigged and it is believed that candidates with no knowledge of stenography used fake certificates to get jobs.
The complainant has brought to the notice of the Vigilance Cell the gross irregularities in filling/recruiting for the post of junior stenographer and has appealed that all document related to the recruitment be taken into custody.
According to the complaint, a copy of which is in possession of Herald, when details were sought about the recruitment process through RTI, the reply given was that the recruitment file has been misplaced/is untraceable.
Shockingly, inquiries further reveal, that there has been no FIR filed in the Police Station by the Electricity Department regarding the lost file.
This alleged recruitment scam comes close on the heel of Power Minister Milind Naik opposing the direct recruitment of Executive Engineers through GPSC in the department in support of the department staff. He now has to answer as to how undeserving candidates outside the department were selected for the post of junior stenographers keeping aside deserving candidates within the department.
What is surprising is that the entire selection process was managed by a retired Head Clerk, Lingu Gaude, working on contract basis and heading the department’s recruitment cell.
This retired head clerk was appointed on a contract basis and was heading the department’s recruitment cell, when the government has officially stated that is wishes to discontinue extension of service to those who have retired
“How is that a retired Head Clerk was made to head such an important cell? There is growing resentment among staff of the Electricity Department that a retired Head Clerk on contract basis with the department is made the head of the recruitment cell,” sources said.
This vigilance complaint is significant since this is the first official records of the many irregularities of the power department. If it s found that fake certificates were used to get jobs, , and this was abetted by the Power Minister, he could face criminal prosecution. The fact is, does Chief Minister Parsekar have the guts to take on his controversial Power Minister?
