The government will invite pre-bid qualification applications from private recruitment firms this month, Newsline has learnt.

According to senior government officials, there are approximately 15,000 vacancies in different Delhi government departments. Officials said the move to get private help comes after the government’s own recruitment arm — the Delhi Subordinate Services Selection Board and other departments — have shown a low rate of recruitment.

Senior officials in the Services department, which oversees postings and recruitments, said there is a 25 per cent shortage at lower-staff level. “We are short of approximately 4,000 to 5,000 employees at the level of clerks, stenographers and technicians,” said S P Singh, Joint Secretary, Services. “The recruitment of employees with specialised skills, such as doctors and engineers, is done separately.”

But there’s a general shortage in such specialised fields as well, Singh reiterated.

The issue first came to light soon after Chief Secretary Rakesh Mehta took charge (November 30, 2007) and sent off letters to all government officials. The letter sought inputs on how governance could be strengthened and what they thought were the biggest impediments in carrying out work efficiently. The response, Mehta said, was unanimous: they pointed out severe staff shortage as the “number one problem” facing Delhi government.

Mehta said: “Government officials had listed three problems: more e-governance in offices, electronic payments, and financial transactions through IT. But shortage of employment was listed as the highest priority. The DSSSB (Delhi Subordinate Services Selection Board) has not been able to make enough recruitment.

“What the government has been doing so far is make temporary recruitments. But they often lead to legal problems when it comes to making these recruits permanent.”

Mehta said appointing contract employees, especially, skilled ones like doctors and engineers, are a “fairly complicated and time-consuming activity”. He gave an instance on how precious work time is wasted: “Many doctors in the department are hiring other doctors, while engineers hire other engineers. Instead of performing their duties and finishing projects, these officials are thus busy interviewing prospective employees — it is not a function they have to perform but under the circumstances they have no choice.

“So I have decided to engage professional headhunters.”

Mehta said retirement of officers has also increased over the past few years and the posts are not being filled up at the rate they are falling vacant.