Punjab to give 33% reservation to women in govt jobs, approves plan to provide employment to youth

Taking a major step towards the empowerment of women, the Punjab government has opted for 33 percent reservation for women at the direct recruitment stage in the Punjab Civil Services.

Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh-led state Cabinet on Wednesday approved the Punjab Civil Services (Reservation of Posts for Women) Rules, 2020, to provide such reservation for women for direct recruitment to posts in government, as well as recruitment to Boards and Corporations in Group A, B, C and D posts.

Besides this, the Cabinet also approved a State Employment Plan 2020-22 to fill vacant jobs in government departments, boards, corporations and agencies in a phased time-bound manner.

With the decision, the Congress-led Punjab government has also made an attempt to fulfil Chief Minister Capt. Amarinder Singh’s promise of providing one lakh government jobs to youth in the remaining term of his government.

The recruitment will be done on central government pay scales, in line with the earlier Cabinet decision to this effect, an official spokesperson informed.

As per the plan approved by the Cabinet, all departments may advertise their respective vacancies by October 31, 2020 to take forward the process of recruitment. The administrative departments would be solely responsible to ensure transparent and fair recruitment within the stipulated time schedule.

The Cabinet has also authorized the Chief Minister to make such amendments/additions/deletions as the situation may warrant, concerning various issues/proposals, after obtaining the advice of departments of Personnel and Finance.

The CM had in March announced that 50,000 direct quota vacant government posts shall be filled in FY 2020-21 and another 50,000 posts in fiscal 2021-22, as a part of his flagship programme ‘Ghar Ghar Rozgar’.

The spokesperson said the Employment Generation, Skill Development and Training Department has collected the direct quota fill-able vacant posts, category-wise, from all the administrative departments. These include Group A (3959), Group B (8717) and Group C (36313), totalling 48,989 posts.

It was decided at the Cabinet meeting that interviews would not be required for recruitment to Group C posts. However, candidates selected based on tests shall present themselves for counselling, to be organized by the concerned department for physical verification of the candidates and their documents.

All the engineering posts at the level of Junior Engineer (JE) and above in all departments/boards/corporations/authorities etc. shall be filled through Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC) by organizing a common exam. In those cases where departments are yet to finalize the agency that would carry out the recruitment, they would be required to do so.

If certain posts are to be withdrawn from the purview of the Staff Selection Board or the PPSC, it would be done only under exceptional circumstances by following the established process.

Regarding the direct quota vacant posts of Group A and Group B to be filled through Punjab Public Service Commission, the spokesperson said that the departments had been asked to refer these Group A and Group B posts to PPSC for recruitment by October 31, 2020, and the recruitment process of these posts shall be completed by June 30, 2021. The Personnel Department has been directed to ensure implementation and compliance in this regard.

Meanwhile, the Employment Generation, Skill Development and Training Department would collect category wise fillable direct quota vacancies for the financial year 2021-22 from all the departments by June 30, 2021.

All the concerned departments whose vacancies are to be filled for the financial year 2021-22 would complete the process of advertisement regarding recruitment by October 31, 2021, and submit a certificate to this effect to the Employment Generation, Skill Development and Training Department on October 31, 2021, he added.

Cabinet okays amendment to Civil Secretariat Rules

In order to effectively pursue court cases/legal matters in a timely manner, the Punjab Cabinet has also approved an amendment to the Punjab Civil Secretariat (State Services Class-III) Rules, 1976, for the creation of Clerk (Legal) cadre for recruitment of Legal Clerks in the Punjab Civil Secretariat. This will be done by taking 100 posts out of the general Clerk Cadre, thus ensuring that there are no financial implications, an official spokesperson informed.

The state government currently has few employees with knowledge of legal and judicial proceedings and educational qualifications necessary to handle court cases filed against the government in accordance with the constitutional provisions, legal rules and instructions.

The Cabinet also gave the go-ahead to increase the quota reserved for promotion to Clerk Cadre from Class IV or Class III (whose scale of pay is less than that of clerk) from current 15% to 18%. This has been done as the number of vacancies reserved for promotion quota for Class IV or Class III (whose scale of pay is less than that of clerk) employees to clerk cadre will decrease as posts sanctioned for clerk cadre will reduce. There is, however, no provision to promote Class IV or Class III (whose scale of pay is less than that of clerk) employees to the post of Legal Clerk.

PCS (Executive Branch) officers to get higher pay scale in 13 years

In another decision, the Cabinet approved placement of all officers working in the PCS (Executive Branch) cadre in the higher pay scale of 37400-67000+8700 (grade pay) on completion of 13 years of service instead of 14 years of service, in compliance with instructions issued by Personnel Department on April 4, 2000 and as per the conditions laid down in the subsequent amendments issued from time to time.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet also gave the nod to revoke the order dated July 8, 2003 w.e.f. December 6, 2008 regarding placement of PCS (Executive Branch) officers working against the first 90 posts of PCS cadre in the higher pay scale of 14300-18600 on completion of 12 years of service.