Rajasthan HC bans 50,000 Seva Prerak appointments, sends notice to Government

The petitioner has said that he has experience of working as a Prerak for many years, but his experience has been ignored.

Jaipur: In a setback to the Rajasthan government, the High Court on Wednesday banned the appointment of Mahatma Gandhi Seva Preraks being done on a contract basis.

This recruitment was being done for a year on 50,000 posts in the entire state. Issuing notice to the state Peace and Non-Violence Department, the court has said that although the government can continue the recruitment process, appointment letters will not be given.

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The hearing on the matter was completed on Tuesday and orders were issued on Wednesday. A candidate, named Lachchiram, has filed a petition before a bench of Judge Arun Bhansali. In the petition filed through advocate PR Mehta, it was said that there is a provision to give priority to such candidates who have the experience of participating in the Mahatma Gandhi Darshan training camp organised by the state government.

However, this camp was for only one day. In such a situation, no legislation is being taken into account in this recruitment process, it argued, adding that there is no mention of the terms and conditions of work in thes release and the guidelines issued in this regard.

Provisions like setting merit related priority for selection have also not been mentioned. The petition also said that the state government has invited a large number of applications for temporary appointments for one year in view of the Assembly elections, which is in violation of the legal provisions of appointment and also amounts to misuse of public money.

The petitioner has said that he has experience of working as a Prerak for many years, but his experience has been ignored. Issuing a notice to the department, the single judge bench has banned any appointment. The Department of Peace and Non-Violence had started the process of recruiting Mahatma Gandhi Seva Preraks on a temporary basis for one year.

Applications for this were given till August 31 and the minimum qualification was 12th pass. Interviews for this have also started in different cities and villages from September 12.

The Seva Preraks selected in this will get an honorarium of Rs 4,500 per month and their main work was to disseminate the schemes of Rajasthan government to the public and to carry out library and other literary activities.