The Newz Radar
SHIMLA: Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Friday (January 19, 2024) met the protesting JOA-IT (junior office assistant) candidates and assured them of early declaration of the results of their recruitment examination. He said the government was studying legal aspects and would announce the results only after that.
On Thursday as well, candidates of the JOA-IT Post Codes 817, 903 and 939 from across the state had reached the Secretariat in Shimla and staged a protest there till late night. The Chief Minister also met the representatives of the candidates late last night. After this, this morning the young candidates again reached the CM’s residence to present their views.
Here too, the Chief Minister met the representatives. regarding the release of the examination results. Furthermore, the Chief Minister conveyed that the matter would be taken up in the next cabinet meeting. However, candidates highlighted that the Chief Minister also emphasised the necessity of cabinet approval for the results to be released.
Pradeep Singh, a candidate from Sirmaur, said that he had been struggling for his issue for the last four years. “Despite successfully fighting a legal battle, we have yet not got jobs. I am not alone but around 6,000 candidates from different post codes are waiting for the results for over four years even after the examinations, due to which the candidates are struggling under mental stress.
Earlier, the recruitment matter was in the Himachal Pradesh High Court and then in the Supreme Court. Now even after three months of the decision by the Supreme Court in our favour, the state government has failed to act,” said Pradeep. He said Chief Minister Sukhu had said several times that the recruitment process would be completed soon, but nothing concrete had happened.
817 post code recruitment pending for four years
It’s nearly four years since the JOA-IT 817 recruitment process began. The now-disbanded Staff Selection Commission in Hamirpur conducted the written examination in March 2021 for 1,756 posts with 1,07,878 candidates appearing for the exam. Of them, 19,024 candidates cleared the exam. Subsequently, 4,342 candidates were issued admit cards for document evaluation and typing tests.
However, legal challenges arose, leading to a court intervention and an order from the Supreme Court to prepare a merit list for all 1,867 posts. Despite more than two months, the result has not been declared due to an FIR registered by Vigilance in the 817 post code, causing the government to withhold the outcome.
A similar situation exists for post code 903 where the Vigilance has filed a case related to a paper leak. In April 2021, the Staff Selection Commission in Hamirpur invited applications for 82 posts under post code 903. In December, 20,833 candidates took the examination and 842 candidates were declared pass.
However, due to a paper leak case registered by Vigilance, the result remains pending despite the typing test being conducted in May.
The recruitment process for post code 939 JOA-IT, which includes 295 posts, is also in limbo. The written examination took place in April 2022, followed by skill tests in August and September 2022. After selecting 909 candidates based on merit for documentation, Vigilance registered a case of paper leak, further delaying the outcome.
