NEW DELHI: Government pensioners may face criminal proceedings for giving wrong information while joining private firms after their retirement.
The Ministry of Personnel, which has issued a notification while amending existing rules, has made it mandatory for retired babus to submit an undertaking declaring that the proposed employment will not involve conflict of interest with the policies of the office where he or she was working in the last three years.
The government’s new notification also makes it clear that permission given to the pensioner will be withdrawn without assigning any reason in the event of any information found to be false. The pensioners will also be required to declare that their service record is clear, particularly with respect to integrity and dealings with NGOs and they will agree to withdraw from the commercial employment in case of any objection by the government. The pensioners will have to declare that they have not been privy to sensitive or strategic information, directly related to the areas of interest or work of the organisation they are planning to join, in the last three years of service.
The government wants to ensure that a pensioner’s job in the private firm is not in conflict with the working of the government. It has also included a clause which clearly states that pensioners will have to declare that organisation in which they are seeking employment is not involved in activities which are in conflict with or prejudicial to India’s foreign relations, national security and domestic harmony.
“The organisation is not undertaking any activity for intelligence gathering. The employment, which I (Pensioner) propose to take up with the organisation also will not entail activities which are in conflict with or involve activities prejudicial to India’s foreign relations, national security and domestic harmony,” the new rules stated.