Contractual recruitment: Congress leaders Ashok Chavan, Nana Patole slam Fadnavis

Congress leader Ashok Chavan. File Pic

Senior Congress leader Ashok Chavan on Friday refuted the claim by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis that recruitment of staff on contract basis in government departments was started by previous state governments, reported news agency PTI.

Earlier in the day, Fadnavis had announced the scrapping of a government order meant for recruiting staff on a contract basis by nine agencies.

Addressing a press conference, Fadnavis said the first recruitment on contractual basis was done in 2003 when the Congress-NCP government was in power in Maharashtra, reported PTI.

He said GRs (government resolutions) related to contractual hiring were issued when Congress leaders Ashok Chavan and Prithviraj Chavan were chief ministers during the 15-year rule of the Democratic Front (DF) coalition (1999-2014), reported PTI.

Hitting back, Chavan, a former chief minister, said, "Now the government tried to fill even tehsildar, police posts on contractual basis. Fadnavis is trying to put the failure of his regime on previous governments. Today the state is in financial crisis and instead of focusing on administrative matters, old contexts are being taken out just to criticise previous governments."

The scrapping of contractual recruitment was a victory of students who had protested against such a government order, Chavan added, reported PTI.

Chavan said decisions taken by earlier governments were as per prevailing situation, adding that his party was not opposed to privatisation throughout.

But all decisions must be taken after thorough deliberations, Chavan asserted.

Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole said recruitment on contract basis was scrapped by the state government due to the opposition from his party and the youth, reported PTI.

Attacking Fadnavis, Patole said the former never wants to accept his mistake and on this issue he had gone head and exposed his colleagues Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Ajit Pawar, reported PTI.

Why didn't Fadnavis cancel the GR on contract recruitment when he was chief minister for five years (between 2014 and 2019), Patole questioned.

The Congress has consistently raised its voice against recruitment of government employees on contract basis as it has sparked anger among youth waiting for such jobs, reported PTI.

The Congress exposed the BJP government, which was forced to cancel the GR after realising that the anger among the youth could severely dent the party's poll prospects, Patole claimed, reported PTI.

"But even while doing that (announcing scrapping of GR), Fadnavis has put the responsibility on Shinde and Ajit Pawar," he alleged.

Fadnavis has claimed then CMs Sushil Kumar Shinde, Ashok Chavan and Prithviraj Chavan took the decision to recruit staff on contract basis, but even then these persons were later absorbed into service, Patole said.

However, the current recruitment process is being done by a private company, he added.

"Fadnavis was CM from 2014 to 2019. Why did he not cancel this GR? The Eknath Shinde government has been in power for the past one-and-half years (since June last year). Why was the GR not cancelled? As soon as it came to power, the Shinde government stopped development works initiated by the Maha Vikas Aghadi, so what took them so long on the contractual recruitment GR," Patole asked.

Pointing out that Ajit Pawar was a deputy CM during the Congress-led alliance governments and Shinde was a minister in the Fadnavis dispensation, Patole said the senior BJP leader had passed on the responsibility of hiring people on contract to Shinde and Pawar, reported PTI.

Fadnavis should be congratulated for exposing Shinde and Ajit Pawar, the state Congress chief said sarcastically.

Patole said his party had met Governor Ramesh Bais over contract recruitment and had asked him to look into the matter.

(With inputs from PTI)