For the last few years a tendency to deprive the locals in government jobs even at the middle or lower levels has been noticed which time and again has triggered controversies and also put the state government at the end in an embarrassing situation.
It has been found that in the government’s advertisements for employment in the government the clause relating to PRTC or domicile status has been intentionally dropped- thus opening up the job opportunities for the ‘outsiders’. It is being alleged that some officials are intentionally indulging in such ‘omission’ and in effect ‘manipulation’ of the requisite clauses in the advertisements. Why they are doing so can be anybody’s guess – but the talks of the town smells something ‘fishy’ in the practice. The practice may have been linked with ‘corruption’, many of the job aspirants allege.
There is no denying that in some specific and top level employment restrictions should not be imposed by asking the PRTC or domicile certificate/ language knowledge. But in Tripura the ‘manipulation’ / ‘omission’ is being done in jobs –which in other states cannot be dreamt of.
It is not that the state government always releases advertisements without the PRTC clause. Say for example, the TPSC advertisement (02/2023) for Veterinary Officer (TVS Gr V) included the clause for “knowledge of Bengali or Kokborok” and mentioned in no uncertain terms that “PRTC would be required”.
So when these clauses are not included, the natural suspicion is that department’s concerned officials might have some vested interest—and that reeks of corruption.
Latest of the ‘omission’ is the advertisement for Tripura Engineering Service jobs through the TPSC.
The TPSC invited application from bonafide citizens of India for selection of candidates for recruitment to the post of Junior Engineers , TES- Gr V (A), Group B, TES V(A), Group C vide advertisement No 16/2022 Dated 15. 11. 2022 (Vide addendum dated 09.12. 2022 TPSC included some posts in respect of the advertisement No 16/2022).
In this advertisement 16/2022 there was no mention of any PRTC-thus is thrown in the open for outsiders too. Now the job aspirant engineers from the state are seriously resenting the omission and demand cancellation of the advertisement. If not cancelled at least modification.
“For similar ‘manipulation’ the government had to cancel the employment advertisement (TPSC advt no 18/2022 dated 29.11.2022) for the Agriculture Officer TAFS Gr I Group B.
Similar omission was also noticed in the job advertisement for the Inspector of Elections too.
That all other states in the country carefully inserts the clause of PRC , domicile status, local language to ensure that the job goes to the locals”, said an aspirant engineer.
For example, in case of recruitment in Assam, through Assam Public Service Commission, one of eligibility criteria is Candidate must be an original inhabitant of Assam and Candidate should be registered in a District Employment Office of Assam and should be able to speak Assamese or other official language or associate official languages of the State or any other tribal languages of the state.
For recruitment under Assam Engineering Service Recruitment Board, one has to be a permanent resident of Assam.
In case of recruitment under Manipur Public Service Commission, permanent resident of Manipur and knowledge in Manipuri language or any of the Tribal dialects of Manipur is essential eligibility condition.
In case of recruitment under West Bengal State Electricity Transmission Company Ltd. also domicile of West Bengal is essential condition and candidates are also required to submit Domicile Certificate. For recruitment under Mizoram Public Service Commission one hasa to be a permanent resident of Mizoram & knowledge in Mizo language is one of the eligibility conditions.
In other parts of the country same procedure is followed.
For recruitment under Punjab Public Service Commission one must have knowledge in Punjabi language as an essential condition.
In case of Joint recruitment examination to the various post of NHPC & THDC only candidates having domicile certificate of Uttar Pradesh or Uttarakhand can apply. Similar is the case with Jammu and Kashmir.
As far as TES advertisement is concerned the aspirant engineers point out that there are about 5000 unemployed engineers in the state and if the advertisement does not include the PRTC/ domicile certificate etc in the adevertisement then scope and space of the local engineers will be severely shrunk.
It may be mentioned here that only recently when Congress MLA Sudip Roy Barman and former MLA Asish Saha met TPSC chairman to point out the ‘omission’ the chairman clearly told then that the eligibility or other requirements are always given by the concerned department and the Commission has nothing to do with it.
“Make a point that we the residents and engineers of Tripura cannot go to, for example Mizoram or Assam and ask for jobs, as they had put the restrictions”, said one engineer. The unemployed engineers demanded insertion or addition of PRTC (Permanent Resident of Tripura Certificate) as one of the mandatory/ desirable condition or Allow a certain percentage (2 to 4) for residence of other states for recruitment to the post of TES Gr. VI( A) & Gr. V(B), published vide Advt. No 161 2022, dated, 15.11.2022 including all other exams like Combined III etc. etc. conducted by TPSC in near future. They said, if cancellation of the advertisements becomes unavoidable, then the process of recruitment should be reinitiated as at the earliest because ‘the aspirants have been waiting for too long and some will have their last attempt”.
(Courtesy Tripura Times)
