Punjab Cabinet on Monday approved the recruitment to as many as 26,454 ‘vacant’ posts in
various government departments including home, education, health, and power. The decision,
aimed at providing gainful employment opportunities to the state’s youth looking for
employment avenues, was taken during the meeting of the Council of Ministers, chaired by the
Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. These posts will be filled on a regular basis, instead of on a
contractual basis.
The posts belong to Group A, B, and C, and the major departments involved in the process will
be Home Affairs, School Education, Health, Power, and Technical Education, said the
spokesperson of the Chief Minister’s Office, after the meeting.
Spokesperson said that the Cabinet also directed the concerned Administrative Departments to
ensure transparent, fair, and time-bound recruitment. It has also been decided that interviews
would not be conducted for the recruitment for Group-C posts.
“The decision would go a long way in achieving the goal to provide employment. Besides, this
step would also optimize the working of Government departments as they will start working with
full human resource on hand and provide government jobs to the youth of the State on the other
hand,” said the spokesperson. As per information available, 67 posts will be filled in Agriculture
Department, 218 in Animal Husbandry Department, 338 in Excise Department, 777 in
Cooperation Department, 10,475 posts in Home Department, besides 6,452 posts in School
Education Department.
AMNESTY SCHEME FOR COMMERCIAL VEHICLE OPERATORS
APPROVED
To give much-needed relief to the commercial vehicle operators, the State Cabinet gave a go-
ahead to the State Transport Department’s amnesty scheme for small transporters whereby they
will be able to pay motor vehicle tax within the next three months without any penalty. With the
decision, nearly 78,000 bus, cab, and auto-rickshaw operators are expected to benefit from the
scheme. “The Cabinet has approved the amnesty scheme, from May 6 to August 5, 2022, for
collecting the motor vehicle tax from the commercial vehicle fine. However, the Department
would neither collect interest nor late fee while issuing the fitness certificate,” said the
spokesperson.
CABINET APPRISED ABOUT BLENDING OF IMPORTED COAL IN
THERMAL PLANTS
To overcome the shortage of domestic coal supply, especially during the paddy season, the
Cabinet was apprised about the Union Power Ministry’s letter, dated December 7, 2021, advising
to use imported coal for blending purpose to the extent of four percent for 2022-23. At the same
time, the Cabinet was also apprised about the necessary steps to be taken immediately so as to
arrange imported coal by May 2022 — that is before the onset of the rainy season to avoid
critical coal stocks, and build up required coal stocks.
BOX: CABINET APPROVES ONE MLA, ONE PENSION SCHEME
In a major decision, the State Cabinet also gave approval to amend the relevant law for limiting
only one pension for state’s each legislature — a move expected to save around Rs 19.53 crore
annually. Bhagwant Mann, days after taking over as the Chief Minister in March, had announced
that all former MLAs would get pension for only one term, doing away with the practice of
drawing the benefit for each term served by them.
The Cabinet, in its meeting, gave approval regarding amendment to Clause 3(1) of ‘The Punjab
State Legislature Members (Pension and Medical Facilities Regulation) Act, 1977’ to give
MLAs of Punjab Vidhan Sabha one pension (irrespective of number of terms served) at new rate
of Rs 60,000 per month plus dearness allowance (as applicable to the pensioners of Punjab
Government). The is instead of present provision according to which a member is being paid a
pension of Rs 15,000 plus DA thereon (as admissible to the Punjab Government Pensioners) for
the first term, and an additional pension of Rs 10,000 plus DA thereon for every subsequent
term. The state Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema said that as of now, the State
Government was paying Rs 18 crore annual pension to 241 former MLAs.