State begins excess staff review, lifts recruitment ban

State begins excess staff review, lifts recruitment ban
PRAFULLA MARPAKWAR

MUMBAI, JULY 9: The Congress-led Democratic Front Government has expedited the process of identification of surplus staff as well as review of performance of those employees, who have either completed 50 years of age or 30 years in the service, while it has partially lifted ban on recruitment with immediate effect.

The Finance Department had by an official order of March 1, had imposed a complete ban on recruitment as well as filling up of vacant posts created owing to voluntary retirement, retirement or death and had ordered review of surplus staff in all government departments as well as state-run corporations and boards.

In fact, review of performance of the employees after reaching the age of 50 years or completing 30 years service, is a routine affair, but now government has asked all the heads of the departments to undertake the exercise more seriously.

``As per the Maharashtra Civil Service Rules, review of performance is a routine exercise, but now, it has been aimed at reducing the staff strength and that too on a massive scale. Our information is that specific instructions have been given to the heads of the department to complete the work in a time bound period,'' a senior office bearer of the government employees union said.

On the directive issued by Finance Minister Jayant Patil to reduce the staff strength by five per cent, the office bearer said even that exercise is also in full swing. ``Initially, we felt that following a strong protest lodged by the government employees, the proposal will be dropped. But, we observed that the letter is being implemented in letter and spirit. It will result in compulsory or voluntary retirement of at least 80,000 employees,'' the office bearer pointed out.

If the government was really keen to reduce the wage burden, the office bearer said, it should first concentrate on top bureaucrats. ``There is a need to take a review of the required and actual strength of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officials. We feel that we have excess IAS officials compared to the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh,'' the office bearer pointed out.

Look at the strength of the IAS officials in the General Administration Department. ``We have a Principal Secretary to tackle the Maharashtra-Karnataka boundary row. As per official records, during the last six months, the official has seen less than half a dozen files. Earlier, the desk was handled by an official of the rank of under secretary. The situation in most of the departments is similar. Though we have a special inquiry officer, sensitive cases have been given to outsiders on contract basis,'' the office bearer added.

Meanwhile, following a strong protest lodged by the Castribe, an organisation for the cause of the backward classes, the government has partially lifted the ban on recruitment. By an order of March 1 and May 30, the government had imposed a complete ban on new recruitments as well as vacancies creating due to death, retirement and compulsory retirement.

``Then the government had asked all heads of the department that no vacancies should be filled up without the prior permission of a highlevel committee headed by the Chief Secretary,'' the office bearer said.

However, now the government has permitted the heads of the department to fill up the vacancies created before February 29. The amended order will empower the government to recruit persons under the special drive to clear the backlog.

According to Castribe President Krishna Ingle, since there was a complete ban on recruitment for last more than seven years, the backlog has reached an all time high of one lakh. ``We have told Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh to take immediate steps to fill up the vacancies,'' Ingle said.