Hyderabad: The cabinet subcommittee on Government Order (GO) 317 on Sunday, October 20, handed over its report to Telangana chief minister A Revanth Reddy, over the allocation of jobs in the state.
Over the last three months, the subcommittee comprising Telangana health minister C Damodar Raja Narasimha, who is also its chairman, IT minister D Sridhar Babu and transport minister Ponnam Prabhakar met professional and members teacher unions and other intellectuals and discussed their issues. Grievances from government employees were also received through email.
What is GO 317, how doe it affect govt employees
Introduced in December 2021, the GO 317 introduced a zonal system in the allocation of jobs. The new system was formulated after Telangana was reorganized into 31 new districts from 10 in 2016; and new districts like Asifabad, Bhupalapally, Mancherial, etc. were created.
The order allows district collector and the concerned heads of department in districts to be part of the allotment committee deciding on jobs and transfers for the district cadre posts. For zonal and multizonal posts, the decision will rest with the principal secretary, special chief secretary, head of the department, and senior consultant to the government.
“If the spouses are working under the state government, local bodies and state government institutions are allotted to different cadres, an option will be provided to apply for change of cadre. Subject to administrative needs and availability of vacancies, and as far as practicable, spouses will be accommodated in one local cadre,” GO 317 reads.
Apart from teachers, Adivasis protested the order fearing that it would dilute the protection given to Adivasis under the fifth schedule, as the GO does not specify Adivasi agency area-specific allotment of cadres.
Agency areas are specially protected zones with Adivasi populations in Telangana. Under the fifth schedule of the Constitution, Adivasis areas have certain special provisions, such as any decision taken there needing to have the President’s assent.