Weed out the inefficient, is the new mantra in babudom. It’s has been happening in Dilli but now also in the states. Rajasthan chief secretary, O. P. Meena, has asked all department heads to identify employees, who have completed 15 years of service or attained 50 years of their age and whose work is unsatisfactory. Those whose performance has been below par, will now face the axe. Apparently, according to the state civil service rules, such employees can be removed with three months of notice or on payment of three months’ salary and allowances with immediate effect from state civil services.
The Centre has been weeding out inefficient babus since the beginning of the year. This column had earlier reported that, and since then the Centre has forced as many as 129 babus to retire “in public interest”. Sources say that the action results from a comprehensive review of the service records of over 24,000 Group A officers and 42,251 Group B officers. Apparently, 30 Group A officers and 99 Group B officers have been sent into compulsory retirement. Not surprisingly, babus in Rajasthan are getting increasingly jittery.
Babu is back from exile
Senior Kerala IPS officer Jacob Thomas, who had stirred up quite a storm in the state during his tenure as vigilance director, has been appointed director of IMG, the state-run management training organisation. He was on leave since April following the Kerala High Court’s criticism of his methods of tackling corruption. Observers see this as the senior officer’s rehabilitation by chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, with whom he reportedly enjoys close ties. During his short tenure, Mr Thomas had many run-ins with politicians and senior IAS officers.
His stand on a case of nepotism against former industries minister E. P. Jayarajan had drawn the ire of the ruling CPI(M). Then two additional chief secretaries, K. M. Abraham and Tom Jose, too had lodged a complaint with the chief minister against Mr Thomas after the vigilance department conducted raids at their residences over possessing alleged disproportionate assets. The current posting is not that befits the second-most senior IPS officer. But many babus would be hoping that Thomas’ new tenure would be a quieter one!
Chandigarh doesn’t Appeal
Chandigarh doesn’t appear to be an attractive destination for babus. Recently two IAS officers of the AGMUT (Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram and union territory) cadre, who have orders to join the UT administration have reportedly written to the Ministry of Home Affairs seeking to avoid the posting. The officials in question are 2004-batch officer Bansi Lal Sharma and 2009-batch officer Tanvi Garg. The latter has served in the city earlier. While Mr Sharma is on the Delhi Subordinate Service Selection Board, Ms Garg is secretary of sport in the education department of Andaman & Nicobar Islands. It’s not known why the two are reluctant to accept their transfer orders.
But, sources say, the ministry is unlikely to acquiesce to their requests, and the babus may have no choice but to toe the line. The Chandigarh administration is facing a deficit of senior IAS and IPS officers, leading to some officers handling multiple departments. At present, the posts of finance secretary, special secretary finance, senior superintendent of police (law and order), which are to be filled from the Punjab-cadre IAS and IPS (Indian Police Service) officers, are vacant for the past many months. The post of SSP (traffic and security), is also to be filled from Haryana. The charges of all these offices are with other officers, as additional duty.
