Department of Personnel & Training abolishes regressive stipulation for reservation of military veterans

Indian Military Veterans

Many military personnel, due to early retirement, look for jobs in the government/public sector after release. Many of them apply for multiple employment opportunities, but then (till now) there was a catch. If an ex-serviceman applied for various civil posts under the ex-servicemen quota and joined one such post, he/she could later not opt for any other post under the said quota. A veteran could hence avail of it only once. 

To take an example, if a person had applied for two posts, one lower and one higher, but got selected for the lower post first and joined the same, he could not then join the higher one even if he got selected for the latter since ex-servicemen quota was treated as ‘exhausted’ on his joining the first post.

This was of course regressive and also fortuitous and chance-based in the sense that a person was forced to join the post or the appointment where the result was declared first to avoid losing out on a job opportunity.

Actually, according to my construal, this blanket ban was based on misinterpretation of various instructions issued from time to time, but that’s another story and now pales into insignificance because of the latest development.

The Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT) has now abolished this incongruous stipulation and has provided that if a person had applied for various vacancies before joining a civil employment, he/she can avail of the benefit of reservation for any subsequent employment.

This is a major move and should come as a big relief to military veterans looking for employment on the civil side.

The letter dated 14 August 2014 can be accessed and downloaded by clicking here.