NEW DELHI: In what is seen as a step to weed out corrupt elements in the bureaucracy in the national capital, Lieutenant General Anil Baijal has written to Chief Secretary Vijay Dev, asking him to adopt a compulsory retirement policy for officers considered graft-prone.
The move could well be interpreted as toeing the central line, as the Narendra Modi government recently announced that it will take effective steps to ‘compulsorily retire’ ‘tainted’ government officers in a bid to cleanse the bureaucracy of bad apples.
The L-G issued a statement saying that regulations under FR 56(j)/Rule-48 of CCS (Pension) Rules, 1972 “are important administrative tools to weed out the ‘dead wood’ and ‘dark sheep’”.
“Probity and integrity are two corner-stones of public service without which no administration can hope to achieve its objective of rendering citizen services in an honest, efficient and effective manner. He also observed that corruption lies at the root of arbitrariness and injustice, thereby weakening the moral and legal authority of any government,” the statement further read.
In a similar move, Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath recently sent a list of over 200 ‘tainted’ officials to the Centre, recommending their early retirement under the said rule.
“Under the rule that the L-G has cited, a government officer could even be asked to retire if he is considered inefficient. Proving corruption charges is not easy, but action could be initiated on the basis of one’s record. Everyone in the government knows who the bad apples are. The chief secretary will put together a committee, which will send its recommendation to the L-G,” former Delhi chief secretary Delhi PK Tripathi said.
“The latter will then forward it to the Ministry of Home Affairs, which take further action in the matter. In case of civic agencies, the commissioner and standing committees will come into play,” he said.
Zero tolerance on graft in government
The Narendra Modi government recently announced that it will take effective steps to ‘compulsorily retire’ ‘tainted’ government officers in a bid to cleanse the bureaucracy of bad apples in the bureaucracy