Chandigarh January 9:
Taking a cue from the Punjab Government’s move of having re-employed 25 Punjab Civil Service (PCS) officers and deputing them on plum posts, nearly a dozen retired IAS officers have now written to the state government to employ them on any suitable post.
Most promotees from the PCS, many of these IAS officers, have retired in the recent past. The government is facing an acute shortage of PCS officers and is seriously considering re-employing these officers on contract on non-IAS cadre posts. A senior government official confirmed that a proposal was under study, but no decision had been taken on the matter yet.
The government, he said, was already short of 134 PCS officers and once two-odd new districts and an equal number of subdivisions are announced sometime in mid-February, officers would be needed to run the administration in the new districts. The Punjab Government had re-employed 26 PCS officers (one later got promoted to IAS) on contract in March 2010 and deployed them on plum posts like SDMs, ADCs, AETCs, etc. They were initially re-employed till December 31, 2010, but recently the Punjab Government extended their employment tenure by six months.
These appointments were made after relaxing Rule 28 of the PCS Service Rules of 1976 and these employed officers were offered all salary and perks as per rules, minus their pension. They do not have any accountability as they are not subjected to any Annual Confidential Reports (ACRs) to worry about. All these retired officers had to do was to give an undertaking that they were medically fit and had no vigilance or criminal case pending against them.
However, though the government is keen to re-employ retired IAS officers, it is still looking at ways to do so. The IAS officers are appointed by the Government of India and have already attained the age of 60 at the time of retirement, whereas the PCS officer are appointed by the state government and retire at 58 years, which means they can be given an additional two years.
Punjab’s Chief Electoral Officer Kusumjit Sidhu has already told the government that the 25 re-employed PCS cannot be deputed on any election duty once the Punjab general election is announced sometime in February next year. In the event of the PPSC unlikely to recommend filling of PCS slots by then, the state government will have to replace these retired and re-employed officers as a majority of them hold positions directly involved with the conduct of elections.
A senior government functionary said that in their representation for re-employment, these retired IAS officers have indicated that they were willing to work in slots much lower than those occupied by them at the time of retirement. “They have indicated that they were willing to work in PCS cadre posts,” a senior official said.
The state government has already come under severe criticism for running the administration on contract as these re-employed officers enjoy statutory and judicial and quasi-judicial powers without much accountability. Punjab has a strength of 288 PCS officers, but is short by 134 officers. This number is increasing every month with new retirements.
Taking a cue from the Punjab Government’s move of having re-employed 25 Punjab Civil Service (PCS) officers and deputing them on plum posts, nearly a dozen retired IAS officers have now written to the state government to employ them on any suitable post.
Most promotees from the PCS, many of these IAS officers, have retired in the recent past. The government is facing an acute shortage of PCS officers and is seriously considering re-employing these officers on contract on non-IAS cadre posts. A senior government official confirmed that a proposal was under study, but no decision had been taken on the matter yet.
The government, he said, was already short of 134 PCS officers and once two-odd new districts and an equal number of subdivisions are announced sometime in mid-February, officers would be needed to run the administration in the new districts. The Punjab Government had re-employed 26 PCS officers (one later got promoted to IAS) on contract in March 2010 and deployed them on plum posts like SDMs, ADCs, AETCs, etc. They were initially re-employed till December 31, 2010, but recently the Punjab Government extended their employment tenure by six months.
These appointments were made after relaxing Rule 28 of the PCS Service Rules of 1976 and these employed officers were offered all salary and perks as per rules, minus their pension. They do not have any accountability as they are not subjected to any Annual Confidential Reports (ACRs) to worry about. All these retired officers had to do was to give an undertaking that they were medically fit and had no vigilance or criminal case pending against them.
However, though the government is keen to re-employ retired IAS officers, it is still looking at ways to do so. The IAS officers are appointed by the Government of India and have already attained the age of 60 at the time of retirement, whereas the PCS officer are appointed by the state government and retire at 58 years, which means they can be given an additional two years.
Punjab’s Chief Electoral Officer Kusumjit Sidhu has already told the government that the 25 re-employed PCS cannot be deputed on any election duty once the Punjab general election is announced sometime in February next year. In the event of the PPSC unlikely to recommend filling of PCS slots by then, the state government will have to replace these retired and re-employed officers as a majority of them hold positions directly involved with the conduct of elections.
A senior government functionary said that in their representation for re-employment, these retired IAS officers have indicated that they were willing to work in slots much lower than those occupied by them at the time of retirement. “They have indicated that they were willing to work in PCS cadre posts,” a senior official said.
The state government has already come under severe criticism for running the administration on contract as these re-employed officers enjoy statutory and judicial and quasi-judicial powers without much accountability. Punjab has a strength of 288 PCS officers, but is short by 134 officers. This number is increasing every month with new retirements.
