Indian Railways says direct recruitment without exams against rules

Rejecting the demand of regularising services of trained apprentices without open competition, Indian Railways has said any direct recruitment without a competitive exam is against government rules.

"It may be noted that regular appointments without any open competition as demanded by some will be against the Constitutional provisions and GOI (government of India) rules about regular recruitment," the railways said in a statement.

"All eligible citizens of the country are entitled to compete and apply for regular jobs. Direct recruitment without any open competition is against the rules," the statement added.

Recently there have been news reports that trained apprentices at railway establishments are demanding regular appointments by asking for the restoration of the earlier powers given to general managers that were discontinued in March 2017, the statement said.

Before March 2017, a general manager could make a regular appointment of a trained apprentice without an open competition.

Section 22 (i) of Act Apprentices Act, 1961 amended on December 22, 2014, provides that, ‘Every employer shall formulate its own policy for recruiting any apprentice who has completed the period of apprenticeship training in his establishment’.

In compliance with this, instructions have been issued vide Railway Board’s letter No.E(NG)II/2016/RR-1/8 dated 21.06.2016, providing that 20 per cent of the vacancies in case of direct recruitment to posts/categories in Level-1 shall be filled by giving preference to Course Completed Act Apprentices (CCAAs) trained in railway establishments.

During 2018, Railway Recruitment Boards (RRBs) have recruited 1288 apprentices in Level-1 posts. Further, 20 per cent vacancies (i.e. 20,734 vacancies) have been kept reserved for apprentices in 1,03,769 notified vacancies for level-1 recruitment currently under process.