There are two major challenges before the BJP which has won majority in the House after the by-elections.
Reservation in promotion and 27% quota given to the other backward castes may be a pain in the neck for the ruling party.
Both issues are pending in the court. Therefore, the government has to handle them with care.
Promotion of government employees has stuck up for four years, since it has failed to take a decision on reservation in promotion.
Former chief minister Kamal Nath implemented 27% reservation to woo OBC voters before the 2019 general election. The decision was challenged in the court.
The Kamal Nath government failed to solve those issues. Nath had, however, assured the affected people of finding out a solution to their problems.
There was resentment among the people against the government, since it fell short of their expectations.
Before 2018 assembly elections, there was anger among the government employees against the BJP government. It was clear in the outcome. The same thing happened to the Congress in the recently held by-polls.
Nearly 20,000 employees have retired without promotion, because a policy for it has been pending for four years.
Such retired employees are not getting proper pension, as they did not get promotion during their service.
This has affected the employees belonging to general and reserved categories.
Before the 2018 assembly election, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had decided to enhance the retirement age of government employees.
Such a decision was taken because the government could not find a solution to the problem of quota in promotion.
Therefore, there has been no retirement for two years. Yet the problem remained unsolved.
The same issue has cropped up before Chouhan again. As a result of Nath’s decision to give 27% reservation to OBC category, it has become difficult for the present government to begin the recruitment process.
This issue is also pending in the court which has stayed the government’s order for reservation. For this reason, the administration has failed to make fresh appointments.
Chouhan may announce a large-scale recruitment. Nevertheless, as the there has been no solution to the OBC quota issue, there will be problems in recruitments.
President of Mantralay Employs Union Sudhir Nayak said they had demanded that the government should follow the same norms for promotion as are pursued to elevate IAS and SAS officers.
According to Nayak, he has met the chief minister, and plans to hold talks with him again after Diwali. He said former chief minister Kamal Nath had not met the employees during his 15-month tenure in office.
Therefore, the issue has remained unsolved, Nayak said.
Govt planned to seek court order for promotion: Sharma
Former minister PC Sharma said the previous government had planned to move the court to obtain permission for promotion. He said the government wanted to begin promotion on the basis of the court’s decision. Now that the BJP is in power, it should take some steps to promote the state employees, Sharma said. BJP spokesperson Rajneesh Agrawal said the reservation issue had been pending in the Supreme Court, so it would not be correct to say anything about it.
