Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren heading a JMM-Congress-RJD alliance government on Thursday accused Opposition BJP and its ally Ajsu of conspiring to foil government’s plan to provide jobs to locals in the state.

This was the first instance when Hemant Soren has blamed the BJP and the Ajsu for disrupting the recruitment process for the local residents defined on the basis of 1932 khatiyan (land survey) in a state scheduled for Assembly polls by 2024 end.

So far Soren had been blaming those having roots in UP and Bihar using few locals to foil the state government’s recruitment process by challenging the policy in Jharkhand High Court.

“The government has started a recruitment process in the state. We had made a law to recruit locals based on 1932 khatiyan records so that original settlers of the state can get government jobs. But members of BJP and Ajsu conspired and challenged against the law in the court leading to its rejection. Now when we are recruiting on the basis of old policy they (read BJP-AJSU) are again conspiring to disrupt it,” alleged Soren while addressing a function at Bokaro on Thursday.

“However, do not worry, 1932 has been our agenda and will continue to be so. We have not been defeated but have only taken two steps backward for a longer jump. We will again draft a law based on 1932 land records and get it passed,” said Soren.

Significantly, Jharkhand Assembly had passed an Act in which 1932 land survey record was considered as the basis to determine domicile of the state in November last year and sent it to governor for its nod with a rider that the Act would be implemented only after it is included in ninth schedule of the Constitution to shield it from judicial scrutiny. The governor had earlier this year returned the Act for consideration citing it as a violation of the constitution.

A bench of Jharkhand High Court had in December last year after a long hearing termed the rules of Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission (JSSC) as unconstitutional and quashed it citing it as a violation of the provisions of Article 14 of the Indian Constitution.

Significantly, under clause 7 of the JSSC Graduate level Exam conduct amendment Rules 2021, it had been said that only those general category candidates who pass matriculation and intermediate from educational institutions of Jharkhand will be able to apply, while this provision was relaxed for reserved category (ST/SC/OBC) candidates.

This had prompted Soren to conduct a survey amongst the over 7 lakh candidates who had appeared in any of the competitive examinations conducted by the Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission (JSSC) and whose career has been in a quandary after Jharkhand High Court order.

On the basis of the survey as many as 73 per cent of the candidates were in favour of implementing pre-2016 recruitment policy with immediate effect. Under the pre-2016 policy, 60 per cent seats will be reserved for SC, ST, OBC and economically weaker sections while 40 per cent seats will be open for all.