Because the Vadodara Municipal Company (VMC) started conducting interviews for the put up of Chief Fireplace Officer (CFO) on Monday, the arrival of 1 specific candidate raised eyebrows. The aspirant was none aside from former in-charge CFO Parth Brahmabhatt who was suspended in September after alleged misbehaviour with a colleague.
The VMC, although, stated that the method for the recruitment of the CFO had been initiated earlier than Brahmabhatt’s suspension, including it was his “elementary proper” to make the try.
Brahmabhatt, who was suspended on September 30 following an alleged brawl with a hearth officer, wherein the previous allegedly assaulted the subordinate, queued up exterior the VMC’s convention corridor, the place the interviews have been carried out by a panel of Class-1 officers on Monday.
Whereas Brahmabhatt refused to touch upon his presence on the interview, VMC officers stated that he had utilized for the put up of CFO when the civic physique had issued the commercial with the deadline for purposes being the primary week of August. “The purposes have been invited on-line and candidates who match the essential eligibility standards have been chosen for the subsequent spherical of interview… At the moment, Brahmabhatt was already holding the cost as CFO. So, his software was a pure motion,” an official stated on situation of anonymity.
The alleged brawl with a hearth officer will not be the one time Brahmabhatt has been in information this 12 months. In August, a number of complaints have been made by elected representatives of the town towards his “conduct” in the course of the Vadodara floods. Proper after the flood waters had receded from the town on August 31, Municipal Commissioner Dilip Rana had assured that the complaints made by the elected representatives relating to the “unresponsive” Brahmabhatt can be “seemed into”. Elected representatives of the town had complained to Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel that Brahmabhatt had allegedly “remained unresponsive and never answered calls in the course of the flood state of affairs”.
Talking to The Indian Categorical on Monday, Rana stated, “Brahmabhatt appeared for the interview as a part of the choice course of. It’s his elementary proper to use for the put up and on this case, the appliance was made earlier than his suspension. Relating to the eligibility and different features regarding his suitability for the position, we’ll look into it as that’s the goal of the interview within the choice course of.”
Among the many candidates for the put up was Nikunj Azad, who has been the in-charge CFO of Vadodara Fireplace and Emergency Providers for the reason that day Brahmabhatt was suspended.
The Indian Categorical had earlier reported that main cities within the state, together with Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat, Junagadh, Gandhinagar, and Bhavnagar, have been functioning and not using a CFO. Jamnagar is the one Gujarat metropolis to have a full-time CFO, the report said.
Round one-third of all firefighting posts within the state’s eight main cities stay vacant. The scarcity assumes significance within the wake of a serious fireplace tragedy hitting the town earlier this 12 months – the TRP Recreation Zone blaze in Rajkot that killed 27 individuals on Might 25.
