Badal urges PM to give Punjab employees due share in admn

The state has now sought its due share of employees in the Chandigarh Administration.

In a communique, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to take effective measures to restore the norms of deputation policy.

He said the systematic erosion of Punjab’s share over the past few years needs to be checked.

Citing the background of the case, Badal said the first Chief Commissioner of Chandigarh was an officer of Punjab cadre. Subsequently, the Chief Commissioners, and now the Advisors to the Administrator are UT cadre officers.

Earlier, the post of Advisor to the Administrator was an ex-cadre post which has now been converted into a cadre post of IAS of Assam, Goa, Meghalya and other UT cadre.

Even with the above arrangement, only the post of Chief Commissioner/ Advisor to the Administrator was supposed to be handled by an IAS officer of UT cadre.

Today, he said, at least 4 IAS officers of this cadre were working in the UT Administration. Similarly, earlier only the post of IGP was occupied by an IPS officer of UT cadre.

Now, apart from the IGP, two posts of DIGs were also being manned by IPS officers of UT cadre, he said.

The Chief Minister also pointed out that departments like Vigilance, Education, Health, Transport, Housing, Local Government, Social Welfare et al had always been held by the Finance Secretary, who was a Punjab cadre officer.

Over a period of time, these departments have been transferred to the Home Secretary who was now a Haryana cadre officer.

At present, the Finance Secretary, a Punjab-cadre officer, is handling only 11 departments whereas the Home Secretary is handling more than 25 departments, said the Punjab Chief Minister.