It is time for Indian bureaucrats to remember school. Or rather,
that cold and terrible sweat before exam results.
The performance of those who have either completed 30 years in
service or reach 50 years of age, whichever comes earlier, will be reviewed,
according to a recent Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) order. Those
who get negative reviews will be given a three-month notice to retire.
The DoPT, headed by PM Narendra Modi, has decided to let go of
non-performing officers and those with suspect integrity by giving them
compulsory premature retirement.
Whenever the services of a public servant are no longer useful
to the general administration, the officer can be compulsorily retired for the
sake of public interest, said the DoPT circular. For better administration, it
is necessary to chop off the dead wood.
The relationship of the NDA government with its employees has
seen ups and downs. This is not the first time that the government has sighted
rules to ensure transparency. Earlier, the government had amended the All India
Service (conduct) Rules, 1968, to include a 19-point guideline for bureaucrats
which mandates that they maintain 'political neutrality' and 'take decisions
solely in public interest', among other clauses.
Detailed instructions have been issued for reviewing the
quarterly performance of officers. The DoPT cited various Supreme Court
observations for assessment of such cases. On integrity, the circular quoted
the SC: "The officer would live by reputation built around him. In an
appropriate case, there may not be sufficient evidence to take punitive
disciplinary action of removal from service. But his conduct and reputation is
such that his continuance would be a menace to public service and injurious to
public interest."
