The urban development and municipal affairs department has proposed to the government that district magistrates oversee recruitments in Group D posts in municipalities with the help of a committee, Firhad Hakim, minister in charge of the department, said on Wednesday.
“Recruitments in municipalities now take place through the municipal service commission. We have proposed that recruitments in Group D posts be held under the supervision of district magistrates with the help of a committee,” Hakim said.
He did not say when the proposal was sent or whether it would come up for discussion in the next cabinet meeting.
The thrust on recruitments in Group D posts in municipalities comes at a time the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has alleged that a businessman arrested in connection with the central agency’s probe into recruitment irregularities in government-aided schools used to collect crores of rupees for recruitments in municipal bodies as well.
ED officers said Ayan Sil, the businessman, had masterminded the sale of close to 5,000 jobs in several municipalities near Kolkata over the past few years.
“A candidate had to pay Rs 4 lakh for a Group D job and Rs 7 lakh for a Group C job in a municipality,” an ED officer said. Hakim said he had instructed the department to examine all recruitment papers and keep documents ready.
“I have asked the department to check all documents and be prepared. There has not been any order from the court till now (in regard to alleged irregularities in civic recruitments). So we won’t do anything in advance,” Hakim said. “But it is still not clear whether there were any irregularities in civic recruitments.”
