No ban on recruitment to govt posts: Centre after row over circular

Hours after Congress MP Rahul Gandhi tweeted on the row, the Centre clarified on Saturday.

"The Dept. of Expenditure circular dated 04 Sept 2020 deals with internal procedure for creation of posts and does NOT in any way affect or curtail recruitment," the Ministry of Finance tweeted to clarify the points of the circular which created controversy.

"There is no restriction or ban on filling up of posts in Govt of India. Normal recruitments through govt agencies like Staff Selection Commission, UPSC, Rlwy Recruitment Board, etc will continue as usual without any curbs," it added.

The circular dated September 4, the Department of Expenditure, which comes after the Finance Ministry, stalled some non-developmental spending to "ensure availability of adequate resources for meeting the needs of critical priority schemes".

The Centre’s document also said "a ban on creation of new posts, except with the approval of Department of Expenditure, in Ministries/Departments, Attached Offices, Subordinate Offices, Statutory Bodies and Autonomous Bodies."

Rahul Gandhi had slammed the government over the circular. Tweeting in Hindi, the Congress leader accused the government of “minimum government, maximum privatisation”, using Covid as an excuse. He alleged that the government was working on freeing the government on offices of permanent staff and pushing the future of the nation’s youth to darkness.