Patna, Dec. 11: The state government has set the ball rolling for filling up around 2,500 posts of panchayat secretaries. Computer training will also be imparted to the candidates who will be appointed through a centralised competitive examination conducted by the Staff Selection Commission (SSC).
Unlike the past practice, when such appointments were made at the district level, the SSC, from this year, will select the candidates for panchayat secretary post.Panchayat secretaries are key government functionaries at the panchayat level. Some of the major works done by them are organising the gram sabha, compiling proceedings of these meetings, looking after the relief distribution work, collecting information for birth and death registration, record keeping and accounts-related work.
The large number of vacancies has adversely affected the functioning of panchayat as many of the existing secretaries have been handling additional responsibilities and hence, finding it difficult to do justice with their roles. There are 8,442 panchayats in Bihar.
“Several districts have sent details of vacancies for panchayat secretaries and as soon as the data for all the districts is ready, we would send the report to the staff selection commission, which will make the appointments,” a senior official of panchayati raj department told The Telegraph.
He said keeping the future requirement in mind, it has also been incorporated in the service conditions that all those people getting appointed through competitive examination will have to clear “O” level examination of computer course of Doeacc society during their probation period. If they fail to do so, their services would be terminated, he added.
The future requirement pertains to e-panchayat scheme, which entails making account-related information of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) as well as other important information related to panchayats available online.
“Once e-panchayat system is in place, the knowledge of computers would become essential for all key functionaries of PRIs. Since the panchayat secretaries are a key employee, we have included the condition about their computer knowledge in the appointment rules itself,” said the official.
While making the appointment rules, the Bihar government also kept the interests of Dalpatis in mind who earlier used to get appointed as panchayat secretaries. The government has decided to give an aspirant age relaxation equal to the number of years the person has held the post of Dalpati.
Dalpati happens to be a person who takes the responsibility of raising Gram Raksha Dal, a group of locals who work as volunteers in emergency situation like flood, outbreak of any epidemic or other similar situations.
About the time likely to be taken in completing the appointment process, the official said vacancy details would be sent to the staff selection commission by the end of December and the latter would decide the date of competitive examination.
