More than four years after the government had advertised for the post of librarians, a tribal candidate who is a first generation graduate, finally got his job appointment letter last week following the intervention of Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal (MAT). Though the MAT had passed the original order six months ago, it was the notice issued by the MAT under contempt proceedings which resulted in the state government’s tribal development department to issue the appointment letter.

The issue

The commissioner of the tribal development department, Thane, had issued an advertisement dated December 18, 2018, inviting applications for recruitment to 15 posts of librarians in government ashram schools and other institutions. Shridhar Pole, 30, son of daily wage farm labourers, had applied under the nomadic tribe-C general category. On completion of the written examination, the applicant was called for document verification on July, 20, 2019. In the merit list of 25 selected candidates, Pole’s name figured second while the first candidate was Hajare Dnyaneshwar Sukhadev.