New Delhi: The Centre has asked all its departments to deal strictly with officials overstaying deputation period. Officials said the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has asked all the ministries and public sector undertakings under it, among others, to take disciplinary actions against such functionaries.
“The Ministry of Personnel has asked all departments to check unauthorised stay of officials. In the event of the officer overstaying for any reason whatsoever, he or she is liable to disciplinary action and other adverse consequences which would include the period of unauthorised overstay not being counted for service for the purpose of pension.
“Any increment due during the period of unauthorised overstay will be deferred with cumulative effect, till the date on which the officer rejoins his parent cadre,” a DoPT official said.
According to the officials, all ministries and departments have been advised that, henceforth, no ex-post facto approval for regularisation of overstay on deputation would be allowed. As per the government policy, inter-cadre deputation is permissible to all India service officers from Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS) and Indian Forest Service (IFS), on completion of their nine years of service and before their attaining promotion to super-time scale in his or her own home cadre.
Such deputation is considered on the grounds of the personal difficulties of the officers concerned and is permissible for a maximum period of 5 years in the entire service career and the period at a time, thereof, normally does not exceed three years.
“All cadre controlling authorities (Ministry of Personnel for IAS, Ministry of Home Affairs for IPS and Ministry of Environment and Forests for IFS) have been advised to check on time period of officers who are on deputation,” the official said.
The central deputation reserve for IAS officer is 1,315. The authorised sanctioned strength of IAS is 6,077, of which 4,225 are occupied. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances and Law and Justice has also come down heavily on such officials for misusing the provision of deputation to avoid certain “uncomfortable” positions and suggested steps for discouraging it.
“The Committee is of the considered view that the existing tendency of treating deputation as a tool by persons considering certain places uncomfortable, to ensure posting in a better place or to get a hometown posting should be discouraged,” the panel has said.
The Committee has observed that there were umpteen instances of government officials remaining on deputation for years together, moving from one department to another and even to other statutory or autonomous organisations and their stay in their parent department remained very limited.
“Such tendencies need to be curbed with a strong hand,” it has recommended. (PTI)