BENGALURU: The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is ready to send transfer orders to 1,280officials, but 50 of them just can’t comply: they are either dead or retired. Under the Karnataka Municipal Corporation Act, an official cannot work in the same place for more than three years.
But in departments like revenue, town planning, advertisements and health, many stay put. “The mass transfers are the brainchild of senior IAS officer Rashmi V. In fact, Commissioner Manjunath Prasad is all set to effect the transfers,” a source said. He had directed officials to prepare a list of those due for transfer. To his embarrassment, he got a list containing the names of officials to whom transfers can’t apply.
“We don’t know how it happened. We just prepared the list by searching for those who had stayed in a place for more than three years,’’ said an official who did not wish to be named for this story. Prasad offered a defence: mass transfers are rare in the BBMP, and such glitches are no big deal. “The last time we had mass transfers was 20 years ago. Using our HR management software, our officials prepared a list. We had expected this as the list is old,’’ he said. The idea of putting up the list on the official website, he explained, was to make the process transparent. “If any official’s transfer is overdue but his name is not on the list, colleagues can inform us,’’ he said.