Himachal’s first cabinet meeting says goodbye to re-employed

Shimla, Dec 27 (IANS) The four-day winter session of the Himachal Pradesh Assembly, the first of the new BJP government, will be held next month in Dharamsala town and those re-employed by the previous Congress government will have to leave, officials on Wednesday announced.

"The session will be held from January 9-12," a government spokesperson told IANS here.

He said decisions in this regard were taken at the first meeting of the cabinet led by Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, who took oath of office along with his 11 cabinet colleagues earlier in the day.

The cabinet also decided to cease all the appointments made by the previous Congress government like chairman and vice-chairman in government boards and corporations.

It also decided to terminate the services of those employees, including officials, who were granted extension by the previous government.

Removing such employees was one of prominent agendas of the BJP "chargesheet" against the previous government.

As per government figures, over 2,000 employees had been re-employed.

The cabinet also put on hold all the recruitments being carried out other than by the Himachal Pradesh Public Service Commission and the Himachal Pradesh Staff Selection Commission.

It would also review all the decisions taken by the previous government in the last six months.

The BJP won a majority with 44 seats in the 68-member state assembly.