Irregular appointments in Aavin: 236 people fired in Madurai

CHENNAI: The appointment orders of 236 persons given in the years 2020–21 by Aavin have been cancelled as a response to a complaint of irregular appointments. The Dairy Commissioner has also ordered to cancel the job notifications for 147 posts.

Sources in the milk cooperative told that the appointments were made for the posts of managers in the accounts department, as well as in agriculture, and dairy. Posts of deputy managers were also filled in an irregular manner, according to the milk cooperative's report to the State government.

Several lower-level posts, including that of drivers and factory assistants, were also filled without proper procedures.

There were wide-scale irregularities in the appointments as the eight district milk unions had conducted direct recruitment without adhering to the process, including the mandatory gaps.

A senior DVAC officer told that if the interview was held on February 10, 2021, the call letter was despatched only on February 5 or 6. This means that a gap of only four or five days was given to the candidate instead of the mandatory 10 days.

The candidates selected under the Madurai milk union for the post of deputy manager, dairying) had qualifications of Bsc Home science, MA Sociology and PG Diploma in Nutrition while the required qualification is a degree with Indian Dairy Diploma (IDD) and National Dairy Diploma (NDD) or PG in Diary Science or BTech in Food Technology/ Dairy Technology.

There were complaints that bribes amounting to lakhs of rupees were given for getting posts and district registrar level officers were involved in filling the posts.

A team led by the anti-bribery DSP filed a report while investigating the complaint.