Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Nov 27: In reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha today, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr. Jitendra Singh said that during the last six months ever since the present Government took over, a number of major decisions have been taken with a view to expedite the process of recruitment in Central Government services as well as with regard to the extension in the tenure of a member or Head of Public Sector Undertaking (PSU).
Dr. Jitendra Singh said, it has been observed that many a time, the final decision regarding appointment of an officer or the extension in the tenure of a member of PSU gets delayed due to a spate of complaints that suddenly begin to be received just before the appointment process or the extension process is being finalized.
In order to overcome this hassle, the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT) issued an office memorandum dated October 30, 2014 whereby it was notified that no cognizance should be taken of any complaint which is received within six months prior to the termination or expiry date of the tenure of the member of a Board, he said and went on to explain that this decision was based on the experience that as soon as the tenure of a particular Board level official becomes due for extension or there is possibility of his getting an extension, several complaints and allegations begin to pour in which may or may not be substantial..
Similarly, Dr. Jitendra Singh pointed out that DoPT issued another set of guidelines on October 22, 2014 which suggest that while making selection for appointment to a post, no cognizance should be taken of any complaint received within six months prior to the initiation of the selection process. Such complaints should, however, be dealt with separately and necessary action be taken as applicable, but such complaints should not in any way prejudice the process of selection, because the timing of the complaints received during the selection process could sometimes be indicative of a dubious motivation to stall the selection of a particular individual for a Government post, he added.
Another common delay in appointment or extension of tenure of an official is on account of prolonged time taken for vigilance clearance, said Dr. Jitendra Singh, and therefore the October guidelines issued by the DoPT also stipulate that in respect of cases where the clearance by Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) is delayed beyond two months, but where the vigilance clearance has also not been explicitly denied by the CVC, the pending complaints, if any, against the officer should be submitted for consideration of the Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC).
The DoPT guidelines issued on October 10, 2014, according to Dr. Jitendra Singh, also suggest that in order to expedite the process for filling-up Board-level vacancies in PSUs, the process should begin at least one year prior to the date of vacancy and the recommendations to the concerned Ministry should be sent at least six months before the date of vacancy. Not only this, he said, the guidelines further suggest that the concerned Ministry will forward the recommendations with vigilance profile of selected individual to the CVC within 10 days and the CVC will complete the clearance process within two months, before the concerned Ministry forwards the proposal to ACC Secretariat or the Establishment Officer within the next 10 days.
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