Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday announced the cancellation of a government order pertaining to the recruitment of contract-based staff.
He attributed this decision to the previous Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, which had initiated the practice of hiring employees this way. The move to annul this order follows criticism from the Opposition parties at the Chief Minister Eknath Shinde government over the issue of contractual recruitment.
Recently, Nationalist Congress Party supremo Sharad Pawar lashed out at the government, claiming that the move will deprive opportunities to people from underprivileged communities.
Mr. Fadnavis said that contract-based recruitment was first introduced in 2003 when the Congress-NCP government was in power. The Bharatiya Janata Party leader expressed his disapproval of this approach and stressed that the blame should be placed on the MVA government for its involvement.
“We don’t want this. They [the MVA government] have committed a sin and we are being blamed for it. I have discussed it with Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar. We have decided to scrap the Government Resolution on contractual hiring,” Mr. Fadnavis said, adding that the decision to hire staff on contract through nine empanelled agencies was made by the Uddhav Thackeray government.
Monsoon Session
During the Monsoon Session of the State Assembly in July, the Opposition leaders expressed concern over the Maharashtra government’s proposal to hire ‘contractual personnel’ for the Mumbai Police, asserting that the control of the police should remain under the State government’s purview. They also draw parallels to the incident involving the Wagner Group, a Russian private military force that witnessed a “rebellion against President Vladimir Putin” in June.
Responding to their concerns, Mr. Fadnavis, who also holds the Home Department portfolio informed the House that police personnel will not be taken on contract.
To address the shortage of constables in the city police, the Maharashtra government has approved the outsourcing of 3,000 personnel from the Maharashtra State Security Corporation, a public sector undertaking of the State Police and issued an order to this effect.
The Mumbai police force has 10,000 vacant posts and every year 1,500 personnel retire from service, and there had been no recruitment in 2019, 2020 and 2021. Moreover, around 500 cops have succumbed to COVID-19.
