Gujarat: One year on, 370 engineering graduates still await posting orders from govt

Notably, the government advertisement for the posts was out in November 2015 and the final recruitment is yet to be over. And now these candidates have started registering their protest on social media since they cannot protest in public due to Covid-19 and lockdown.

Around 370 engineering graduates, who have cleared an entrance examination conducted by Gujarat Public Service Commission (GPSC) for the Class II posts of lecturer and assistant professor in the state-run polytechnic colleges, have been awaiting final posting orders for the past year now.

Notably, the government advertisement for the posts was out in November 2015 and the final recruitment is yet to be over. And now these candidates have started registering their protest on social media since they cannot protest in public due to Covid-19 and lockdown.

“The state government had put out an advertisement in November 2015 for various posts of lecturer and assistant professor in government polytechnic across the state. Examination for different faculties was conducted in 2016 and the final results were out in 2019. The document verification of successful candidates was also done in 2019. However, we are awaiting our final posting orders for the past one year now,” said Nirav Joshi (28), one of the 370-odd engineering graduates.

“Initially, there was a stay by the Gujarat High Court on final selection in the recruitment as some ad-hoc lecturers had gone to court. However, we had joined that litigation and the court had vacated the stay. Despite that, the government is not giving us final posting orders. More than that, we are not getting clear answers from the authorities. We have met top officials, education minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama and even deputy chief minister Nitin Patel and Chief Minister Vijay Rupani in this regard, but the issue has remained unresolved,” said Joshi from Ahmedabad.

According to Joshi, almost all of the 370 candidates were working in private engineering colleges before clearing the government examination.

“But after our selection for the government job, our private institutions asked us to resign so that they do not have to look for a new faculty mid-year. And we had accordingly resigned. And now the situation is such that we have been sitting unemployed. Before lockdown, I used to tutor engineering students, but that has also stopped owing to lockdown,” Joshi said.

Joshi has the overall merit rank of 14 in the recruitment. Like him, Rajnikant Dhamsaniya (26) from Jamnagar has the overall merit rank of 33.

“I do not know why the government is not giving us final posting orders. We are not even getting clear answers for the delay. I resigned from my private job, and am without a job right now,” Dhamsaniya said.

Iram Mirza (25) from Junagadh is also one of the successful candidates. Mirza was holding a government job while working as a junior engineer with Paschim Gujarat Vij Company Limited and she had resigned from that job to accept the job of lecturer.

“I was working as a junior engineer. But I was more inclined towards career in teaching profession. So, after clearing this exam, I anticipated that the final posting order will be issued soon and so, resigned from that job. But, the final posting order is awaited for the past one year and I am sitting jobless since then,” she said.

Joshi, who is coordinating the 370-odd candidates’ efforts to get the final posting order, said they were planning to sit on a public protest before the lockdown was announced.

“Now, due to lockdown, we cannot sit on a public protest. So, we have started protesting on social media by floating hashtags like #GPSCSelectedBerojgar and tagging government authorities,” added Joshi.

When contacted, minister Chudasama said he was not aware about the issue offhand and would get it checked from his office.