Bengal minister admits to flaws in municipal recruitments

Kolkata, May 13 With the Calcutta High Court giving a go ahead for central agency probe into the alleged scam in municipal recruitments in West Bengal, a state minister on Saturday admitted that there had been deviation from the prescribed recruitment norms in certain municipalities.

Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim, who's also the Minister of Urban Development and Municipal Affairs and Housing, the nodal department for all municipal corporations and municipalities in the state, admitted on Saturday that the deviation was in terms of recruitment through an outsourced agency in certain municipalities.

"If there were some irregularities, the department will surely examine them. I am yet to understand why certain recruitments were made through an outsourced agency. The rule for recruitment in case of a municipality is that the process should be conducted by a joint committee of representatives from the municipality concerned and the district magistrate's office. But in some cases, recruitments were made through an outsourced agency. I am yet to understand why there was this deviation from the norms," Hakim said.

The minister also said that he has asked his department secretary to review why such deviations took place.

"Once the report comes, everything will be clear. If the court wants, we will submit our report to it. I also need to know who approved this outsourced agency," Hakim said.

Both the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) are now probing the alleged municipal recruitment scam by filling FIRs.