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Punjab Govt gives clean chit to 10 PCS officers
Extends their job contract till Dec 31
Ruchika M. Khanna/TNS

Chandigarh, September 11
Strange are the ways of the Punjab government. Initially, it expressed reservation over extending the contractual services of 10 retired PCS officers allegedly because of some objection to their way of functioning. But the government has now sanctioned that the contractual services of these officers which have been extended till December 31, 2013.

The 10 officers, whose extension has been approved by the office of chief minister are: Ajmer Singh, J C Sabbarwal, Pritam Singh, Sukhwinder Pal Singh, Avtar Chand Sharma, Mohan Lal, N S Batth, Sohan Lal Bhumbak, A K Sikka and O P Popli.

Sources in the government said they were initially given an extension for six months after some of these 10 officers had allegedly been accused of acts of “omission and commission”.

Of the 33 PCS retired officers appointed on a contractual basis, 23 other officers were given extension for a year by the government in January this year.

It was only recently that the Personnel Department finally cleared the names of some of these officers on the pretext that “no substantive allegations” were proved against those officers who were under scanner, nor was any criminal or vigilance case pending/registered against them.

The file was then put up before the chief secretary, who sent it to the chief minister for his final approval for granting extension in their contract till December 2013.

Interestingly, some of these officers have been given plum postings despite their “wayward ways” during their years in regular service. In spite of some of these officers having a chequered past, they have not only been re-employed, but also given statutory powers and no accountability in terms of annual confidential reports or fear of penal action against them.

The Punjab government has been constrained to re-employ these retired officers on contract on account of acute shortage in the PCS cadre. Punjab has 288 posts of PCS officers of which 128 are lying vacant. Twelve PCS officers have recently been inducted into the IAS, resulting in further shortage. Though the government is in the process of appointing 20 new PCS officers, the state will still continue to face a shortage of over 100 PCS officers.

No charges proved

• Personnel Department cleared the names of these officers on the pretext that ‘no substantive allegations’ were proved against them.
• Beside, no criminal or vigilance case was pending/registered against them.
• The file was then put up before the chief secretary, who sent it to the CM for his final approval.
• Interestingly, some of these officers have been given plum postings.