Hyderabad: The recruitment notifications planned by the Telangana government in July are now stuck in the “zonal system” tangle.
The divergent views given by Chief Secretary Rajiv Sharma and AG Ramakrishna Reddy over continuing the zonal system has put the government in a quandary.
In undivided Andra Pradesh, there were six zones with each zone covering certain districts. Of them, the first four zones covered Andhra and Rayalaseema districts and the last two zones covered 10 TS districts.
These zones were created in undivided AP following the Presidential Order, 1973 as per Article 371(D) to provide equitable opportunities for Andhra, Rayalaseema and Telangana districts.
As per the zonal system, while filling district posts, 20 per cent of the posts would be offered under open merit for zonal-cadre posts, and for multi-zonal cadre posts 40 per cent of the posts would be offered. For this any eligible candidate from anywhere in the state can apply.
TS government feels that if the zonal system is continued it will enable Seemandhra students in TS, especially in Hyderabad and RR districts (Zone VI) and Khammam and Karimnagar (Zone V), to bag most of the open quota jobs as they form a major chunk of the population.
The CM asked the CS and other senior officials to study this issue thoroughly and make recommendations. The CS is said to have recommended adopting the existing zonal system as any changes may lead to legal problems.
The AG on the other hand submitted that the TS government needs to take permission from the Centre to make any changes in the zonal system since as per AP Reorganisation Act, 2014, the zonal system continues to be in force in both TS and AP.
