Discrepancies likely in recruitment of coordinators

By Our Staff Reporter
IMPHAL, May 24: Many quarters have raised strong suspicion that recruitment of 13 District Coordinators in Social Welfare Department may be done through fraudulent means.
According to a well placed source, due advertisement was published on January 11 this year for recruitment of 34 posts including 16 posts of District Programme Coordinators under PMMVY Scheme for a period of one year on contract basis.
Social Welfare Department published another advertisement on the same day for recruitment of 113 posts including 13 posts of District Coordinators under NNM Scheme for a period of one year on contract basis.
In accordance with the two advertisements, Social Welfare Department issued a notice on May 20 whereby the dates for holding interview were notified.
But the dates notified for holding interview are inconsistent with the advertisements published on January 11, said the source.
Whereas the advertisement published on January 11 notified for recruitment of District Programme Coordinators under PMMVY Scheme, the notice issued on May 20 talked about recruitment of District Coordinators under PMMVY Scheme.
With a view to ensure effective implementation of different schemes taken up under ICDS Mission, the State Cabinet gave its consent on September 19, 2015 to recruit 192 different posts including 40 posts of District Coordinators in Social Welfare Department on contract basis.
Following the Cabinet approval, advertisement for recruitment of 192 posts was published on May 19, 2016.
Recruitment  was made to all the 192 posts after holding interview but four of the newly recruited staff resigned sometime later.
As for the remaining 188 staff, their term of contract expired on September 30, 2017.
Nonetheless, the Social Welfare Director wrote a letter to the Social Welfare Commissioner on October 6, 2017 to extend the term of contract of the 188 staff for sometime so that different schemes can be implemented effectively.
Contrary to the letter written by the Social Welfare Director to the Social Welfare Commissioner, two advertisements were published on January 11 this year for recruitment of 34 posts including 16 posts of District Programme Coordinators under PMMVY Scheme and 113 posts including 13 posts of District Coordinators under NNM Scheme.
Moreover, the eligibility criteria given for the post of District Coordinator were also modified in the advertisement published on January 11.
Master in Social Work, Public Health, Business Administration or Food & Nutrition was the eligibility criteria specified earlier. But it was changed to Graduate or Certification/Diploma in Computer Science or Diploma in IT.
Given this inconsistency  between advertisements and the notification for holding interview, and modification of eligibility criteria, many quarters have raised strong suspicion that the District Coordinators may be recruited through fraudulent means.