Govt determined to act against non-performing employees
*Exercise to be completed shortly under new provisions
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Jan 21: Determined to take action against the non-performing officials in the administration, the Government of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir has directed all the Administrative Departments to immediately convene meetings of the Review Committees and assess the performance of employees in the light of Article 226(2) of the Jammu and Kashmir Civil Service Regulations, 1956.
The Article 226 (2) deals with compulsory retirement of the officials on completion of 22 years of qualifying service or on attaining 48 years of age and to review the cases of all those employees who fall in this provision the Government had recently constituted Review Committees.
One Review Committee headed by Financial Commissioner Finance Department and comprising Administrative Secretaries of five departments and Principal Secretary to the Lieutenant Governor has been framed to consider the cases of officers holding Grade of Under Secretary and above.
Similarly, Review Committees have been constituted for all the 39 Administrative Departments of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir to consider the cases of Non-Gazetted officials. These committees are headed by Financial Commissioner Finance Department Dr Arun Kumar Mehta, Financial Commissioner Health and Medical Education Department Atal Dulloo and Principal Secretary Home Department Shaleen Kabra.
The issue of implementation of Article 226 (2) of Jammu and Kashmir Civil Service Regulations, 1956 came up for discussion in a high-level meeting held under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary BVR Subrahmanyam recently. In the meeting, it was informed that General Administration Department has constituted Review Committees in respect of each and every Administrative Department.
Accordingly, the Chief Secretary directed that the departments should convene the meetings of the Review Committees and the exercise to assess the performance of the officials in the light of Article 226(2) should be completed at the earliest while strictly following the procedure laid down in the Regulations, reliable sources told EXCELSIOR.
“All this clearly indicates that Government is determined to get rid of the non-performing officials at various level so that accountability is ensured in the administration”, sources said while disclosing that Review Committees will start assessing the performance of the officials who fall in the provision of Article 226(2) within next few days.
They further disclosed that the entire exercise will be completed strictly as per the provisions which were recently incorporated in Article 226 (2) by the Government of Union Territory on the directions of the Lieutenant Governor issued in exercise of the powers conferred under proviso to Article 309 of Constitution of India.
Article 226 (2) empowers the Government to retire any Government servant other than one working on a post which is included in Schedule-II of the Rules, after he or she has completed 22 years of qualifying service or on attaining 48 years of age. However, this power can be exercised provided that the appropriate authority gives a notice to the Government servant at least 3 months before the date on which he is required to retire or three months of pay and allowance in lieu of such notice.
Earlier under Article 226(2) no explicit time-frame was fixed for review of the performance of the Government servants. However, the newly incorporated provisions make it compulsory to initiate exercise for each Government servant for the first time after his/her completion of 22 years of service or attaining 48 years of age and any time subsequently as may be required.
As per the new Article 226 (2), a register of the Government servants, who are due to attain the age of 48 years or to complete 22 years of service, has to be maintained by the Administrative Department concerned and such a register will be scrutinized at the beginning of every year by the Review Committees.
Moreover, a new clause “Subsequent Review” states that there is also no bar on the Government to review any such case again where it was decided earlier to retain the officer but the Administrative Department is of the opinion that it is expedient to undertake the review again on account of changed circumstances.
Under Article 226 (2), the Government servants can be recommended for compulsory retirement in case their integrity is doubtful; if found to be ineffective in work and the basic consideration in identifying such Government servants would be their fitness/competence to continue in the post held and their utility for the purpose for which they are employed.
“A Government servant retiring on superannuation within a period of one year from the date of consideration of his/her case may be retired under these Regulations where there is a sudden and steep fall in the competence, efficiency or effectiveness”, sources said, adding “similarly, a Government servant whose service during the preceding five years or since his or her last promotion has deteriorated suddenly or substantially will be considered for compulsory retirement”.
As per the new provision, all relevant portions of the entire service record of a Government servant may be considered at the time of review. The review will not be confined to the consideration of the ACR/APAR dossier only as the personal file of the Government servant may contain valuable material. Similarly, his or her work and performance could also be assessed by looking into files dealt with by him or her or in any papers or reports prepared and submitted by him or her.
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