HC cancels 320 civic volunteer jobs

TNN | May 21, 2016, Kolkata: A day after its landslide electoral victory, the Trinamool government suffered a setback when Calcutta high court cancelled appointments of 320 civic volunteers in Bankura and ruled that the remaining 1.30 lakh would have their jobs till the end of the year. Questioning the process of appointing civic volunteers, the court directed the state to set up a committee formed by its senior officials to prepare guidelines to streamline the hiring system.
Responding to two writ petitions, Justice Sanjib Banerjee of Calcutta HC cancelled with immediate effect the appointment of 320 civic volunteers by Sarenga and Barikul police stations in Bankura in 2013. The petitions were filed by 10 candidates whose applications were rejected. The petitioners alleged that the two police stations hired 320 civic volunteers without proper interviews. During a hearing on the petitions earlier, Justice Banerjee chided the state which claimed it interviewed 875 applicants in a day.
Justice Banerjee, who had termed recruitment of civic volunteers in Bengal a "great scam," observed on Friday that appointments by the two Bankura police stations was "just the tip of the iceberg." The judge pulled up the state "for the lack of checks and balances in the recruitment of 1.30 lakh civic volunteers when Rs 1.80 crore is spent daily from the public exchequer towards their salaries".
The court then ordered that appointments of the remaining 1.30 lakh civic volunteers appointed since April 2013 should be terminated "by this calendar year". The court ordered that the state panel should comprise the finance secretary, transport secretary and Bidhannagar Police commissioner who will frame guidelines for the appointment of civic volunteers from next year.
The recruitment process should have applicants taking a written test with 80% marks based on objective questions and 20% subjective questions. The guidelines framed by the committee are to be reviewed by the chief secretary within three months, the court directed.
The state should also decide on the process for issuing advertisements inviting applications, the court said. State counsel Tapan Mukherjee later said he will advice the state to appeal against the order.
The civic police volunteer force is a fast track employment scheme that Mamata Banerjee had devised immediately after coming to power in 2011. The state admitted it had recruited 1.3 lakh civic volunteers merely on the basis of interviews, although physical and written tests are mandatory for recruitment in the police force. In a state where job opportunities are scarce, the creation of a statewide unit seemed like a quick fix for the unemployment problem. However, the ad hoc nature of the scheme invited trouble.