Sri Vijaya Puram, Oct 14: Mr. Bishnu Pada Ray, Member of Parliament, A & N Islands, had recently met a large number of former Home Guards and considering the genuineness of the grievances put forth by them, wrote a detailed letter to the Chief Secretary, A & N Administration to consider early filling up of vacant posts of Home Guards.
Mr. Ray has stated in his letter that as of now there are approximately 500 vacant posts which are yet to be filled up. These posts remain unfilled since 2020.
The recruitment process for the above posts is being held up allegedly due to pendency of the amendments to Home Guard Rules.
Mr. Ray further pointed in his letter that as per settled provision of law, any vacancies that arise prior to amendment of rules in force, the same must be filled as per existing provisions of law and the subsequent vacancies if any, should be filled as per new law. So, keeping vacancies for more than 04 years without filling up the posts for the above said reason may not be justifiable. The correspondence between the department and the administration regarding the amendment of Home Guard Rules has been ongoing for over 04 years. Despite this, a final decision on seeking approval from the competent authority is yet to be made.
The delay in recruitment process not only denies short term employment opportunities to the unemployed youth of our islands but also poses a potential risk to the overall performance of law and order and security arrangements within the jurisdiction of the A&N Police, Mr. Ray opined.
In view of the above, Mr. Ray has requested for intervention by the CS in expediting the recruitment process for filling up of all the vacant posts of Home Guards at the earliest.
Mr. Ray has further suggested that the Administration or the Department must consider speedy finalization of the proposed amendment to the Home Guard Rules and fill the vacancies as soon as possible or in case the amendment process is expected to take a prolonged period, consider filling the vacancies according to the existing rules to avoid delays.
He has also requested in his letter that preference may be given to the Ex-Home Guards who have rendered service satisfactorily during their tenure in the past.
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