Railways to review performance of senior employees
CHENNAI: Even as Railways Minister Piyush Goyal recently informed the Lok Sabha that 2.94 lakh vacancies in the Indian Railways would be filled soon, the Ministry of Railways has decided to review the performance of its employees to ascertain whether they should be retained in service or be given premature retirement. The group A and B officers aged 50 and group C and D category employees above 55 years, are to be reviewed. Moreover, performance of those who have completed 30 years of service in the railways, will also be scrutinised.
According to official records, as on March 31, 2017, the strength of railway employees was 13,08,323 and over 2.9 lakhs posts were vacant. From 2013, about 22,000 to 25,000 railway employees have been inducted into the service every year, while the retirement rate was 55,000 to 60,000 a year.
In wake of the recent directions from Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) issued last month, the Railway Board on Tuesday directed the zonal railways and production units to assess the performance of employees.
One of the guidelines for identifying the employees for early retirement states that if the conduct of an employee is unbecoming to public interest or obstructs the efficiency in public service, he or she can be recommended for premature retirement. The board attributed its decision to improve efficiency and strengthening of administration.
However, the apex body of the national transporter insisted that forming an opinion to retire a railway employee prematurely, should be taken purely in public interest and should not done arbitrarily. “The decision should also be based on the collateral ground as per the Supreme Court order in Union of India Vs J N Sinha in April 1976,” said the board directive. It sought the report from zonal railways by 8th of every month.
Though review of employees’ performance was conducted in 2015 after similar advice from DoPT, it was not implemented, following stiff resistance from the railways’ employees union. However, highly placed official sources told TNIE that the recent order may have serious repercussions on railway employees as the ministry is planning to cut down on numbers.
R Elangovan, vice president of Dakshin Railway Employees’ Union (DREU), strongly condemned the move and said they would go for indefinite strike if any such assessment is made.”The Union government is planning to reduce the size of employees only to privatise the railways,” he charged.