Only two out of nearly 1,100 babus found inefficient

Only two out of nearly 1,100 bureaucrats whose work performance was reviewed by state governments have been recommended for premature retirement, the Centre said today.

There are some states like Jammu and Kashmir and Uttarakhand among others who have not yet shared with the central government information regarding formation of review committees for assessing performance of IAS, IPS and IFS officers working under their administrative control.

As per rule, the central government, in consultation with the concerned State, may require an officer to retire in public interest from service for non-performance.

"The object of the rule is to weed out the deadwood in order to maintain a high standard of efficiency and initiative in the state services. It is not necessary that a good officer may continue to be efficient for all times to come, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has said.

Time and again, the state governments have been requested to carry out intensive review of service records of officers belonging to all India services--Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS) and Indian Forest Service (IFS)--at two stages.

The review need to be carried out when officers have completed 15 years of service or five years after induction, and when they have completed 25 years of service or attained the age of 50 years, it said.

As per latest status report, performance of a total of 549 officers, who had completed 15 years of service, were reviewed. Of these, a highest of 76 officers were of Maharashtra cadre, 64 of Jharkhand, 62 of AGMUT (Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram-Union Territories), 58 of Uttar Pradesh, 44 of Punjab and 43 of Madhya Pradesh cadre.

Only one officer of AGMUT cadre has been recommended for premature retirement, the report said.

All officers are found to fit and continue in service, the DoPT said citing outcome of the review meetings.

The performance of a total of 37 officers of Odisha cadre, 36 of Rajasthan, 33 each of Gujarat and Chhattisgarh, 24 of Meghalaya, 19 each of Bihar and Haryana, and one of Himachal Pradesh cadre were reviewed. Of these, final decision in respect of one officer of Haryana cadre is awaited. All others are found fit to continue in service, the report said.

Besides, the states also conducted review of 540 officers who had either completed 25 years of service or attained 50 years of age. Of them, a highest of 123 officers under review were from Madhya Pradesh cadre, 97 officers of Uttar Pradesh, 54 of Gujarat and 41 of AGMUT cadre.

The performance of 36 officers each of Assam and Odisha cadres, 35 of Haryana, 31 of Punjab, 30 of Jharkhand, 26 of Rajasthan, 16 of Chhattisgarh, 13 of Meghalaya and two of Himachal Pradesh was reviewed by the respective state governments. Of them, one officer of AGMUT cadre has been recommended for premature retirement, it said.

"Information is awaited from the states of Jammu and Kashmir, Manipur, Andhra Pradesh, Sikkim and Uttarakhand regarding formation of the review committee and conduct of the meeting thereafter," the DoPT said.

Minutes of the meeting is awaited from Nagaland, Tripura, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Karnataka. West Bengal has assured holding the review committee meeting, it said.

Based on this status report, the Centre has proposed to discuss this and other issues with the states in a meeting by Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Jitendra Singh with Principal Secretaries (of personnel or general administration department) of state governments on April 22.

The Centre is also reviewing performance of employees working under it. Under Fundamental Rule 56(J), the government has the "absolute right" to retire, if necessary in the public interest, any Group A and B employee who joined service before the age of 35 and has crossed the age of 50. This performance review is being carried out by different central government departments.