Ranchi, February 21 (IANS). On Saturday, the fourth day of the budget session of the Jharkhand Assembly, the issues of increasing the retirement age of government employees and massive backlog of appointments in the state figured prominently.
Clarifying its stand on both the subjects, the government said that at present no proposal to increase the retirement age is under consideration, while the process of filling the backlog posts on priority basis is going on. Chatra’s LJP MLA Janardan Paswan raised the demand for increasing the retirement age of employees.
He said that at present the retirement age of government employees and officials in the state is 60 years, while the retirement age of doctors and teachers in central services is 65 years. He also mentioned that in Jharkhand even doctors and university teachers are retired at 65. Citing the neighboring state Chhattisgarh, Paswan said that the retirement age of employees there has been increased to 62 years.
He raised the issue of shortage of personnel in the state and demanded consideration of increasing the age limit. On this, Finance Minister Radhakrishna Kishore clarified that every state takes decisions according to its geographical location, financial resources and administrative needs. He said that Chhattisgarh would have taken a decision according to its circumstances, but no such proposal is currently under consideration in Jharkhand.
The minister said that there are a large number of educated unemployed youth in the state and the government under the leadership of Hemant Soren is making appointments in a systematic manner. If the retirement age is increased then opportunities for new appointments will be limited, hence restoration of youth on vacant posts is the priority of the government. Congress MLA from Khijri Rajesh Kachhap raised the issue of backlog posts of Scheduled Tribe, Scheduled Caste and Other Backward Class. He said that thousands of posts of reserved categories are lying vacant for years and they are not properly included in the next recruitment process.
He demanded backlog appointments to be made in a time-bound and clear policy. Responding on behalf of the government, the Minister said that the claim of more than 50 thousand backlog vacancies in various departments is not true.
He said that the government is conducting different department-wise recruitment processes and the backlog posts will be filled on priority basis while fully following the reservation rules. Necessary instructions have also been given to the concerned departments to make the recruitment process transparent and quick.
–IANS
SNC/AS