Compulsory Retirement – Cracking down on CG Employees – While there was always a rule to compulsorily retire bureaucrats, the rule applies to only those who are at least 50 years old.
CG employees may get 3-4 times the salaries of their private sector counterparts, especially at the lower-to-medium levels, but the security of tenure that they enjoyed is now under threat because of the compulsory retirement threat.
A study for the 7th Pay Commission found a fresh government nurse earned 3.4 times her private sector counterpart, a teacher 2.7 times and a driver 2.3 times. While there was always a rule to compulsorily retire bureaucrats, the rule applies to only those who are at least 50 years old – on grounds of either corruption or inefficiency, this has rarely been used.
According to The Economic Times that reported the use of an obscure Rule 56(j) to sack 15 customs and central excise officials —including two at the level of commissioners—this was last invoked three decades ago. Indeed, a few months before it demitted office in 2014, the UPA government reiterated the rule, but it did precious little about it. The NDA reissued the order last September, but made its intentions clear since, while doing so, the order excerpted various Supreme Court judgments on this – in other words, CG employees were warned that the highest court in the land had ruled in favour of this in the past.
In the case of State of Gujarat vs Umedbhai M Patel, the SC had ruled that “whenever the services of a public servant are no longer useful to the general administration, the officer can be compulsorily retired for the sake of public interest”. It then went on to say, according to the DoPT circular, “For better administration, it is necessary to chop off dead wood, but the order of compulsory retirement can be passed after having due regard to the entire service record of the officer.”
Since the exercise is believed to have been kicked off at the instance of the Prime Minister’s Office, chances are that several more employees may be shown the door.
Source: http://www.financialexpress.com/
Declaration of Assets and Liabilities by public servants under section 44 of the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013 —filing of Returns by public servants on or before 15th April, 2016 – regarding.
No. 407/02/2016-AVD-IV(Lok Pal)
Government of India
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions
Department of Personnel and Training
North Block, New Delhi,
Dated: the 2nd April, 2016
Office Memorandum
Subject: Declaration of Assets and Liabilities by public servants under section 44 of the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013 —filing of Returns by public servants on or before 15th April, 2016 – regarding
The undersigned is directed to invite attention to the provisions of section 44 of Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013 whereby every public servant i.e. all categories of public servants as defined under section 2 (0) read with section 14 (1) (a) to (h) of Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013, shall make a declaration of his assets and liabilities. The timelines for filing the declarations/information/annual returns under the said Act are as under:
i. The first return of assets and liabilities as on 1st August, 2014 under the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013 – on or before 15th April, 2016ii. The annual return of assets and liabilities as on 31st March, 2015 under the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013 – on or before the 15th April, 2016.iii. The annual return of assets and liabilities as on 31st March, 2016 under the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013 – on or before 31st July, 2016.iv. The annual return of assets and liabilities for subsequent years as on 31st March every year should be filed on or before 31st July of that year.
The aforesaid timelines have already been intimated vide this Department’s OM No. 407/12/2014-AVD-IV(B) dated 28.03.2016,
2. All Ministries/Departments are requested to ensure compliance of the aforementioned provisions of the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013 and in this regard inform and sensitize the societies/Association of persons/trusts under their administrative/financial control about the requirement of the law and deadlines for filing of necessary declarations/returns. To facilitate smooth compliance & information/provisions of section 44 of the Lokpal & Lokayuktas Act, 2013, this department has already placed in the public domain all the relevant rules framed under the said Act, forms in which declarations are required to be made, FAQs etc.
3. This may please be accorded due priority keeping in view that the declarations & returns for the years 2014 & 2015 are required to be filed by all public servants by 15.04.2016 mandatorily.
(Jishnu Barua)
Joint Secretary to the Govt. of India