Writing on the wall for lax officers

NEW DELHI: Babus beware, big brother is watching. Striking a rare note of agreement, the State and the Central governments have agreed to put all-India service officers on a performance watchl

NEW DELHI: Babus beware, big brother is watching. Striking a rare note of agreement, the State and the Central governments have agreed to put all-India service officers on a performance watchlist. The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has come out with a circular, ushering in a new ‘perform or perish’ regime for the IAS, IPS, revenue and forest service officers.

A new clause in the All India Service Rule, 1958, by the DoPT now makes it possible for the State and the Centre in consultation to review the performance of an officer after 15 years of service. If it is found to be below par, the babu can be sacked.

Earlier, such an evaluation could only be done after 30 years of service. According to the new DoPT circular, the review will now be done at two junctures, one after 15 years of service and another after 25 years.

If an officer’s performance leaves much to be desired, he/she may be asked to go  with a three-month notice period or three months salary paid, plus perks. In such a case, his/her retirement benefits will remain intact.

The government may review the performance of the officers at any point in their careers. This rule seen in the context of the SC observation on a Subramanian Swamy petition that any complaint of wrongdoing against any officer has to be probed in 4 months, pending which it would be deemed to have been cleared, is expected to make life for the Indian Babu a lot more tougher.

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