Chandigarh, April 7
Can you imagine retired and mostly tainted officers, re-employed with statutory powers and no accountability in terms of annual confidential reports, or fear of penal action, running the state administration?

The fact that some of them, known for their “wayward” ways while in service, can again bring in corrupt practices does not seem to bother the government as it re-inducts them as additional deputy commissioners, subdivisional magistrates and assistant excise and taxation commissioner, on a contractual basis. A chunk of Punjab’s important tehsils and subdivisions have been handed over to these officials, who have statutory powers, including that of trial under the CrPC.

A total of 26 former PCS officers cleared in the first lot of such contractual appointments have already taken over and will serve a term till December 31. 2010. These appointments have reportedly been cleared by a special committee headed by the Chief Secretary on the instructions of the state government.

By sticking to the retirement age of 58, the government has said it wants to give young blood a chance in running the state administration. But on the other hand, officers, who had retired during the past five years, have been brought back on plum assignments.

Most of these officers have joined in positions that were lower than those they occupied prior to their retirement. Some of them, who served as DCs, are now reporting to the current District Magistrates. Though some of them have a dubious past, they have been re-inducted into service on the plea that no criminal or vigilance case was pending against them.

According to sources, when interviews were being held by a panel comprising Chief Secretary SC Aggarwal, Secretary, Personnel, Iqbal Sidhu and Financial Commissioner Navreet Singh Kang, the latter put his foot down on certain names for their ‘chequered past’. All those who could not make it in the first list are now pressing hard to be put up in the second list, which is now being formulated. A senior bureaucrat justified the re-employment on the ground that as the state has an acute shortage of PCS officers, “re-employment was the only available option”.

According to information collected by The Tribune, half a dozen of re-employed officers have been posted for administrative work in the Punjab Civil Secretariat, while the remaining have been posted as SDMs, ADCs, GA to DCs and even with the Excise and Taxation Department. These appointments have been made after relaxing the Rule 28 of the PCS Service Rules of 1976 and these officers have been offered all salary and perks as per rules, minus their pension. Besides the medical certificate of fitness, these officers are required to produce an affidavit that no vigilance or criminal case is pending against them.