'Job interviews at lower posts being done away with'

The government has initiated the process of doing away with the practice of holding interviews for appointment to junior-level posts, Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space Jitendra Singh said here on Tuesday.

The Department of Personnel and Training has initiated an exercise for identifying the posts for which interview for selection can be discontinued and a communique in this regard has been sent to various state governments, State Public Service Commissions and Staff Selection Commissions, Singh said.

He said that this move follows the suggestion put forward by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his Independence Day address to the nation.

A statement quoted the minister as saying that the government would soon identify all those posts, particularly at junior levels like Group III and IV, where an interview is avoidable and would stop this practice.

He said for a post for which an interview is not necessary to determine the capability of a candidate, the provision of interview sometimes leads to scope for manipulation and corruption.

Barring such posts where an interview would help in testing special capabilities for a particular assignment, abolition of the provision of interview will not only be in the larger public interest but would also offer a level playing field for those candidates who lack resources and/or come from lower socio-economic strata, he added.