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Eye on polls: Haryana to fill 65,000 vacant posts
Pradeep Sharma/TNS

Ban lifted The Haryana Finance Department lifts ban on recruitment for posts lying vacant for two years Politicians set to get a free hand in the recruitment process recruitment muddle The recruitment for government jobs in Haryana has repeatedly come under the judicial scanner Former CM Om Prakash Chautala and his MLA son Ajay Chautala are serving jail over recruitment of 3,200 JBT teachers The Hooda Government’s role in the recruitment of 1983 PTIs also came under a cloud with the High Court cancelling the process

Chandigarh, November 7
The decks have been cleared for filling around 65,000 vacant posts in Haryana ahead of next year’s parliamentary and Assembly elections.

Barely three weeks after imposing a ban on filling posts lying vacant for two years to curtail wasteful expenditure, the Finance Department yesterday took a U-turn and lifted the ban on the recruitment, giving the Hooda Government a free hand to fill the posts in the pre-election year.

In an apparent bid to beat anti-incumbency against the state government for its various acts of omission and commission, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda recently announced the filling of around 65,000 vacant posts. These posts included 25,000 of teacher, 12,000 in the police department, 17,000 class III posts and 10,625 of class IV employees.

Sources said a substantial number of the posts had been lying vacant for more than two years and the lifting of the ban by the department would remove the last hurdle in the filling of vacancies.

Earlier this week, the Hooda Government allowed the benefits of quota in government jobs which fell vacant before February 28, 2013 to the special Backward Classes and the economically weaker sections among the general category.

Earlier, February 28 was the cut-off date for availing the of benefits of quota for these categories.

Haryana has been notorious for alleged irregularities in recruitment process, including during the Hooda regime.

A number of recruitment processes in the state had been set aside by the Punjab and Haryana High Court bringing these recruitment process under a cloud.