PANDURANG GAONKAR
PANAJI
A ‘note’ issued by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Friday last has directed all government recruitment processes for ‘group C’ posts to be handled by the Staff Selection Commission, the law for which, was passed in the legislature’s monsoon session.
Sawant has also said in the note that all advertisements issued pursuant to passing of the law are required to be withdrawn with immediate effect.
The directive through the note issued by the Chief Minister, meanwhile, could potentially derail the ongoing recruitment process in the Goa Medical College and Hospital for filling up 1,000 positions in various categories including nurses, other para-medic and technical posts.
The Staff Selection Commission Bill, 2019, was passed in the monsoon session of the Goa legislative assembly and has already been notified following the Governor’s assent.
Meanwhile, following the outrage and frustration of the general public over having to go all the way to the Goa Medical College and Hospital (GMC) to get the job application forms for the 1000-odd vacancies, the government has finally decided to make the forms available online from today.
Health Minister Vishwajit Rane, who prior to Monday was adamant that the forms would be available only at the GMC, changed his stand and tweeted the new decision on Monday night.
“In public interest we have taken a decision to make all forms available online as well as offline, pertaining to all departments headed by me. The submission of the same will be done offline. The date for submission of all applications will be extended for another ten days,” Rane tweeted, specifying that the same would apply even for the vacancies at the GMC, although the filled-up forms will have to be submitted physically at GMC.
For the past ten days, from the time the application process first started, job seekers from everywhere in Goa had to queue up at the office of the dean at the GMC for hours on end to get the form, some even having to take a day’s leave
from their current jobs.
The social media community had been vociferous in its demand to make application forms available online, while Leader of Opposition Digambar Kamat had asked Rane to “make available application forms at the Taluka Level in PHCs, and UHCs to reduce hardships of young job seekers.” However, Rane had cited “protocol” and “transparency” as the reasons that forms were being sold only at the GMC. It will also be remembered that the GMC director of administration had said that there was no record being kept of the forms being sold in person.
