Public sector banks may soon hire directly from campuses
Public sector banks (PSBs), which are finding the going tough with rising levels of non-performing assets (NPAs) and acute shortage of staff, will soon be allowed to visit the country’s business and engineering schools for recruitment.
The newly launched Bank Board Bureau (BBB) in consultation with the government is likely to announce the roadmap for the same. At present, these state-owned banks are not allowed to recruit from campuses unlike private banks.
The process of hiring for PSBs is already in progress as specialists are being hired from the private sector on contractual basis.
The Bombay High Court in 2013 declared campus recruitments by PSBs as being ‘non-est in law’-- a claim of non est factum refers to a contract that was signed by mistake. The Supreme Court later dismissed the appeal and thereafter the government issued a circular dated August 4, 2014 to all state-owned banks to stop campus recruitments in the light of the judgment.
Sources said that the final contours are being discussed to plead and reverse the order from the Supreme Court.
“There is a shortage of talent and these banks (public sector) are also expected to compete with their private sector peers. The issue (campus recruitments) has been discussed, we are looking into the legal aspects... Banks must be free to recruit the best talent from wherever,” said a bank chairman, who did not wish to be identified.
Finance minister Arun Jaitley, on March 5, after the second Gyan Sangam — the two-day retreat for public sector bank chiefs — said that provisions must be made to allow the state lenders to recruit directly from b-schools.
However, legal experts said the government will have to present a “solid ground” to be able to revisit the issue in the apex court.
“The order can be revisited only on the ground that it is required for larger public interest…Any such move by the Centre would be subject to judicial scrutiny,” said Manoj Kumar, legal expert and managing partner, Hammurabi and Solomon.
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