Jharkhand: No hope is lost for 4th-grade recruitment, says Palamu DC
THE JHARKHAND STORY NETWORK Daltonganj, August 22: Jobless youths in Palamu are demanding early recruitment to 4th-grade posts in the Collectorate and…
THE JHARKHAND STORY NETWORK
Daltonganj, August 22: Jobless youths in Palamu are demanding early recruitment to 4th-grade posts in the Collectorate and its offices across the district.
As per August 2025 data, 585 4th-grade posts are vacant in Palamu, of which more than 300 are reserved posts. Around 35,000 applications were received for recruitment in 2025.
However, due to an unforeseen situation, the state government postponed the recruitment.
Although the state government has framed its own rules and regulations for such recruitment, this recruitment to 585 posts stands alone following the Supreme Court’s February 2025 order in this regard.
A Gen Z activist sat on a hunger strike for more than a week right across the main entrance/exit gate of the Palamu Collectorate, demanding recruitment to the 4th-grade posts.
The fast was ended after assurances from the administration that the matter would be sympathetically looked into.
The Jharkhand Story Network had a pre-scheduled interview with DC Dilip Pratap Singh Shekhawat at 5.15 pm on Friday. The interview was delayed by a little over an hour due to extraneous reasons, including the footfall of visitors and officers and a transport meeting in between. Nevertheless, Shekhawat spoke openly and at length on the issue of 4th-grade recruitment and a couple of other issues.
Here are the excerpts from the interview:
Q: The recruitment issue has been dragging on since 2025. Is there any hope left, or is the recruitment destined to remain pending indefinitely?
DC: There is great hope for it. The issue is live and sensitive. The Palamu administration is pretty concerned about it. I am committed to seeing that this recruitment is done.
Q: You claim the administration is serious and concerned about the recruitment, but on the ground, it is altogether a forgotten issue. Why?
DC: No, I tell you. The administration is exploring the scope and methodology for the recruitment. The voice of the masses is that a written test should be held for the recruitment. I don’t see this demand for a written test as outlandish, but I hasten to add that I, on my own, can’t take any final call on it. It’s for the government to take a final call.
Q: It is alleged that the administration is hardly bothering about the recruitment in the light of the Supreme Court order.
DC: The order of the Supreme Court is being followed strictly. It asked for the recruitment process to be completed in six months, and my predecessor and the team completed the process within the stipulated time. Process and recruitment are different.
Q: Can your assertions on recruitment to 4th-grade posts be seen positively?
DC: Yes, I mean it. There is all hope for it.
Q: Now let’s go to infants’ health, where 18 to 20 per cent of children in the age group of 9 months to 18 months have missed their first shot of measles-rubella vaccinations in Palamu. What do you have to say?
DC: No health official told me about this. It’s a serious matter. I will see how and why it happened.
Q: Electors with anomalies number more than 4.48 lakh in Palamu. Their hearing will be a gigantic task. Is your administration prepared for the massive hearing?
DC: We are geared up. Training sessions are on to bolster our officers. High-grade-pay officers have been pressed into it. I don’t see any reason for any jerk in passing reasoned orders in matters of redressal of anomalies.
