M A I N   N E W S

37 yrs later, Punjab remembers it has a
rule to weed out corrupt
To now scrutinise ACRs of employees completing
25 years in service
Vijay Mohan
Tribune News Service

The regulation

n Government claims right to retire employees n Purpose was to weed out inefficient, corrupt staff n Decision guided by ACRs over a period of time n But not a single compulsory retirement in 37 years!

Chandigarh, June 4
What hasn’t happened in 37 years is unlikely to happen now. But unnerved by a legal notice, preceded by several RTI applications, the Punjab Government is learnt to have directed departments to follow instructions given way back in 1973.

The service records of inefficient or corrupt officials in the Punjab Government, therefore, are now under scrutiny.

The state government has issued directions to all the financial commissioners, principal secretaries and administrative secretaries to meticulously review the service records of government employees and recommend compulsory retirement of those who deserve to be weeded out.

A letter issued in this regard states, “It has come to the notice of the government that most departments are not conducting review of service records of concerned employees at the appropriate stage.”

The instructions were first issued on September 26, 1973. The government claimed to have the absolute right to retire an employee who completes 25 years of service or attains 50 years of age, after giving him a notice of three months, if the competent authority felt it was ‘in public interest’ to retire such an employee.

The purpose of compulsory retirement was to ensure that the dead wood or the inefficient and corrupt employees were weeded out of government service.

On the basis of information obtained under the RTI Act, lawyer and RTI activist HC Arora, had sent a notice to the Punjab Chief Secretary pointing out that most of the departments were not even aware of any such instruction issued in 1973.

Dissatisfied, Arora sent a legal notice to the Chief Secretary in March 2011 calling upon him to ensure implementation of the instructions within a month, failing which he threatened to file a PIL in the Punjab and Haryana High Court. It appears to have worked.