Indian Express 02.12.2009
After ‘ghost workers’, MCD in fresh trouble over out-of-turn promotions
After the recent ‘ghost employees’ debacle, fresh trouble seems to be brewing for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, this time over the out-of-turn promotion of five of its officials to the post of deputy commissioner over a year ago.
Highly placed sources in the civic agency confirmed that five out of 17 serving deputy commissioners (DC) were promoted to their current post last year after merely three years of service, violating the recruitment rules set by the Union Public Service Commission. Two of these five officials are now in line for promotion to the post of additional commissioner.
The five officials, namely Deepak Hastir, A K Singh, Kiran Dabral, P R Sethi and S C Kohli had been working as ad hoc Additional Deputy Commissioners (ADCs) for three years when they were promoted to the post of DCs on an ad hoc basis in July 2006. Their promotion violated the UPSC recruitment rules, according to which ADCs can be promoted to the rank of DCs only after they have served as part of “regular service” for a period of seven years or more.
Details of the 2006 files, copies of which are with Newsline, read: “As per the provisions of the Recruitment Rules, five years of regular service as ADC is required. However, as per the practice/ precedent in the MCD, length of service is counted... Based on this, all become eligible for promotion as deputy commissioners on an ad hoc basis. Five deputy commissioners, previously working on current duty charges (CDC) basis, having been found fit after examining the annual confidential reports. Fulfilling the prescribed benchmark “very good”... granted ad hoc promotion, initially for a period of one year or till such time the posts are filled up on regular basis, whichever is earlier”.
Incidentally, Deepak Hastir is now in charge of the Central Establishment Department that handles recruitment and promotions.
The agency, meanwhile, justified the promotion saying the decision was taken based on “precedents”. According to officials, CDC is an interim arrangement under which an employee is given a higher designation but not paid accordingly.
The officials further added that the agency did not consider the objections raised by Brij Mohan Sharma, the then chairperson of the MCD appointment committee, to the promotions in question.
Additional Commissioner, MCD Engineering Department, R K Shrivastava, had recently written to the Home Ministry regarding the irregularities, the officials added. Shrivastava confirmed that he had written to the Department of Personnel Training (DOPT), Home Ministry, seeking a clarification over the issue.
“The matter of irregularities in the promotion of some officials has been brought to light. I cannot confirm if some rules were actually flouted or if (the decision) going by precedent was right,” he said. “I hence wrote to DOPT seeking clarification on the recruitment rules,” Shrivastava said. A reply is still awaited.
The officials in question were unavailable for comment. While Hastir is currently the DC of Central Zone, Sethi is the DC of Narela
MCD Leader of Opposition Jai Kishen Sharma said he, too, had written to the Municipal Commissioner K S Mehra seeking a clarification on the issue. “It is unfortunate that rules had to be flouted to promote our officers; the matter needs to be addressed immediately,” Sharma said.
