Sub: Discontinuation of interview for Junior Level Posts in the Government

Ref: DOP&T letter No. F. No.39020/09/2015-Estt (B) dated 27th October, 2015 to the Chief Secretaries of all the State Governments/Administrators of the Union Territories.

One day workshop scheduled to be conducted on 29.10.2015 at Civil Services Officers Institute (CSOI), New Delhi, for the Principal Secretaries of GAD of States/UTs, in connection with discontinuation of interview for Junior Level Posts in the Government, has been postponed to 16.11.2015.

“The government’s view is that the interviews should be discontinued for recruitment to junior level posts where personality or skill assessment is not absolutely required. The objective behind abolition of interviews for such posts is that it will curb corruption, ensure more objective selection in a transparent manner and substantially ease the problems of the poor and resourceless aspirants. This will not only enable giving more weightage to the merit but also supplement the government’s resolve for “Maximum Governance, Minimum Government”.

Several Group ‘B’ (Non-Gazetted) and Group ‘C’ (Non-Technical) posts in various Ministries/Departments and other organisations under Central Government have already been identified where the selections can be made through a competitive examination without conducting the interview.

The Chief Ministers of different States have been requested to involve the Public Service Commission and other recruiting agencies in their respective States where interview can be discontinued and selection can be done only through examination to achieve the goal of citizen-centric transparent governance.

Several decisions like abolition of attestation of certificates etc. were taken and introduced self-attestation of certificates, introduction of pension portal to abolish the requirement for a written life-certificate and decision to revisit and revise the pattern and syllabus of Civil Services Examination.

For a post for which an interview is not necessary to determine the capability of a candidate, the provision of interview sometimes leads to scope for manipulation, manoeuvrability and corruption. Therefore, barring such posts where an interview would help in testing special capabilities for a particular assignment, abolition of the provision of interview will not only be in larger public interest but would also offer a level playing field for even those of the candidates who lack resources and come from lower socio-economic strata.

The introduction of self-attestation of certificates eliminates inconvenience caused to the youth for going around seeking attestation of certificates from gazetted officers, etc.

A pilot exercise undertaken for three States of Jammu & Kashmir, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu had proved successful wherein, for the first time, an Induction training programme was introduced for the newly inducted State-level functionaries and the same practice is now being extended to other States as well. DoPT has taken a decision to revise and revisit the pattern and syllabus of IAS and other Civil Services Exam to offer a level playing opportunity for aspirants from different streams.