337 officers on deputation overstaying in BBMP

Out of the 593 officers and engineers on deputation to BBMP as many as 337 are overstaying. Among these, 137 were previously raided by the Lokayukta police but they were allowed to continue in the Palike.

These statistics came to fore during the BBMP Council meeting on Thursday to discuss reply on the star question. The issue of officers on deputation overstaying in the Palike surfaced when Nandini Layout corporator M Nagaraj raised the issue. In reply, the commissioner said there are no clear guidelines. Government passes order suo motu, which the BBMP's general administration section accepts it, said Lakshminarayana.

Unhappy with the explanation, Nagaraj grilled Lakshminarayana. He said, “What does it mean that there are no rules? It is running like a charitable shelter house accommodating everyone. What will be the fate of the institution, if the custodian of the BBMP comes out with such weird explanations? Why don't we dump the Karnataka Municipal Corporation (KMC) Act and declare that we have our way?”

Nagaraj said after four years of seeking information about the officers on deputation, he got the reply recently, which raises many eyebrows. He said there are many officers who came to the BBMP way back in 2007 and still continue here, although the Cadre and Recruitment rules clearly say that no officer can spend more than five years on deputation in any department. The officer can come back after spending two years of ‘cooling period’ in the parent department.

Giving names of many officers including engineers from the Public Works Department (PWD), Nagaraj sought to know which law permits them to stay for more than five years.
During the discussion, the Commissioner said there are 385 engineers and 208 other staff on deputation, 187 engineers and 150 other staff have exceeded three years of stay in the Palike.

Participating in the discussion, Yediyur corporator N R Ramesh pointed out that at least 137 engineers on deputation were raided by the Lokayukta police for their involvement in corruption. He added that as per the rules, 70 per cent of the staff should be BBMP employees, while 30 per cent can be taken on deputation. Tragically, said Ramesh, the case is reverse, wherein 31 per cent are Palike employees while 69 per cent are officers on deputation.

The BBMP Commissioner said a resolution to this effect can be passed.