Kolkata, July 4 (IANS) West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Saturday announced what he described as the first step towards freeing the state’s recruitment system from political interference by adopting the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) model and appointing a senior bureaucrat, instead of a political figure, as the Chairman of the West Bengal Central School Service Commission (WBCSSC).

On Saturday, the office of Governor R.N. Ravi cleared the proposal to grant the additional charge of WBCSSC Chairman to former West Bengal Chief Secretary Dushyant Nariala, a 1993-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer from the West Bengal cadre.

It is learnt that Nariala will handle the responsibility of WBCSSC Chairman in addition to his current duties as the Principal Resident Commissioner of the West Bengal government in New Delhi.

Announcing the decision to appoint Nariala as the new WBCSSC Chairman, CM Adhikari recalled his earlier commitment to the people of the state to ensure complete transparency in the recruitment process by reforming various recruitment commissions on the lines of the UPSC and keeping them free from political interference.

“Similarly, when the State Finance Minister announced the recruitment of vacant posts in his state budget speech last month, we had promised that there would be no political person in any recruitment committee. Our government is determined to fulfil that promise. Today, we have taken a very important step towards achieving that goal. To ensure transparency and impartiality in the recruitment process of the West Bengal Central School Service Commission (WBCSSC), Dushyant Nariala, a very experienced and senior IAS officer of the state, has been given the responsibility of Chairman of the Commission,” CM Adhikari said.

The Chief Minister also said that henceforth merit and qualification would be the only criteria for securing a job.

“The injustices committed during the previous Trinamool Congress governments or the examples of institutional corruption will have no place in this new West Bengal. Our main goal is to protect the rights of qualified and talented job seekers and hand over appointment letters to them. We will continue this effort to build a bright future for the youth,” the Chief Minister added.

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(Written with inputs from IANS)