Tailor-made Recruitment Rule in Port Management Board Successful journey of an ineligible candidate from Fitter (Elect) to Junior Engineer (Mech) with blessings of Superiors. An example from the Port Management Board reveals that, with the blessings of officials, anything could be achieved by a candidate irrespective of laid down rules and regulations. The story of a staff of PMB who has just been promoted as Junior Engineer (Mech) in the board shows that, not only hard work but blessings of the higher officials can take you along the path of success despite legal hurdles. In this instance, a candidate, who is now promoted as JE (Mech), was initially appointed on ad-hoc basis as a Fitter (Electrical) on 7th June’1989, although he possessed a trade certificate 09 months in Mechanical namely MMF (Mechanical Maintenance Fitter) whereas essential qualification for the post of fitter was “a certificate of ITI with 2 years duration in the trade concerned”. Regularized within a span of three months into service, the candidate had served in the same capacity for about 10 years and subsequently promoted as Jr. Technician in 2001. When this matter caused a rage within the department, a RTI Petition was filed by an individual recently to obtain a copy of Recruitment rule of Fitter (Elect) which was in force in 1989 when the candidate was initially appointed to this post. But, in its reply to the RTI, the PIO concerned of PMB simply stated that, there were no posts like Fitter (Elect) or Fitter (Mechanical) existed during 1989, thus denying the delivery of information under the RTI Act. But, during our investigation into the matter, we have come to the following conclusion: ‘That the PMB had committed a major mistake by appointing a candidate to a post for which no RR was available during the corresponding period. Secondly, the appointed candidate was having a trade certificate in “Mechanical”, but appointed to “Electrical Trade”.’ The seniority list shown prior to promotion of particular candidate was based on a mixed cadre consisting of various disciplines viz. electronics and mechanical in order to make the particular candidate a senior among others. As per laid down rules on Recruitment Rules of Government of India, a notification with regard to amendment/ change of RR in respect of all posts should be widely circulated in newspapers seeking objections/claims from stakeholders. In the instance case, no such notification was made public nor was published in any newspapers. Realizing the above mistakes, the PMB was quick to act within the next two years. In 1991, it had published a Recruitment Rule for the post of Fitter (without mentioning the trade) for which, it prescribed essential qualification as “Pass in Middle School and a Certificate of Fitter in Electrical/Mechanical/Electronics”, thus paving way for the particular candidate to make a smooth sailing. Following the above, another recruitment rule was notified on 24th August’1992 for the post of “Junior Technician” in which essential qualification was mentioned as “XIIth Pass with 3 yrs Diploma in Elec/Mech/Elect. Subsequently, the PMB had published another RR for the post of “Junior Technician” on 26th Oct’1999 in which, required qualification for the post was mentioned as “Xth Pass + 3 Yrs Diploma in Elect/Mechanical/Electronics under direct quota whereas qualification for promotional quota was mentioned as “8 Yrs service in fitter with certificate and VIIIth standard pass”. In this midst of this controversy, during the period from 1991 to 2001, the candidate concerned had already served 10 years of service in the cadre of “Fitter” and in 2001, he was directly promoted as Junior Technician. Promoted from an Ad-hoc fitter (elect) to Junior Technician in a span of 10 years, now the candidate has been promoted as Junior Engineer (Mechanical), although he did not possess the essential qualification as prescribed by the 6th Pay Commission for a Junior Engineer (Mechanical). According to it, atleast a Diploma of three years duration is required in the respective discipline is required for a candidate to become a Junior Engineer in Government department, irrespective of his length of service. Then, how this candidate with a certificate of 9 months duration and a 10 years service, has been promoted as Junior Engineer (Mechanical)? Moreover, the officers of Port Management Board has established that, technical employees like fitter and junior technician of any trade is eligible to be promoted as Junior Engineer of either Mechanical or Electrical in their organisation. This can be termed as an eye-opener for other organizations like Electricity, Marine, ALHW and APWD to adopt this method for ensuring career progression and promotion to their workforce. Senior officials of the Administration should conduct an appropriate inquiry into this matter and ascertain as to which vested interests in PBMC are flouting the rules and favouring undeserving candidates. These vested interests should be heavily penalized by the Administration for their whimsical ways. The high handedness of higher officials at PMB is to be stopped and corrective measures taken by the Administration. The affected people are on course for taking legal recourse for justice in this matter and expose vested interest operating within PMB.
Posted on: Sat, 03 Aug 2013 15:04:43 +0000
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