The Maharashtra government has cracked the whip on officers and employees appointed in ministerial offices and various govt departments on deputation, on a loan basis, or merely by oral orders, without following the prescribed procedure.
The govt has ordered the immediate cancellation of all such appointments and also warned that any recurrence of such appointments in the future could invite disciplinary action.
State Chief Secretary Rajesh Aggarwal (IAS:1989:MH) issued a circular in this regard on August 25, directing that all such officials and employees must be sent back to their parent offices by September 10.
As per new directions, heads of offices and drawing and disbursing officers have to submit reports confirming that officials whose appointments were cancelled have joined their parent offices by September 15. If any employee fails to report to the parent office, his/her salary will be stopped.
The Additional Chief Secretary, Principal Secretary or Secretary of the concerned department has been directed to submit a report to the Chief Secretary’s office anyhow by September 20.
The circular also directs that identity cards, face recognition, and attendance facilities linked to such cancelled appointments be discontinued immediately.
The state govt has directed that the procedure prescribed by the General Administration Department be strictly followed for all future appointments to ministerial offices.
Besides, the circular also says that officers and employees from subordinate offices should not be appointed on loan or on an oral basis.
The reason behind this action is provided in the circular. It says that these appointments were being made without following the prescribed procedure, as a result of which a large number of technical persons lacking training or experience in ministerial work, including doctors, stenographers, teachers, and engineers, had also been appointed.
It was found that this practice is affecting the functioning of the Mantralaya and established administrative processes.
According to govt sources, such appointments also made it difficult for both the borrowing and parent offices to fill vacant posts and adversely affected the functioning of the parent departments, besides creating administrative difficulties.
Another concern being voiced is that appointments made on deputation or oral instructions did not involve verification of integrity certificates, character certificates, confidential reports, departmental inquiries, and other service-related matters.
According to the circular, such verification was necessary because ministerial work was administrative and highly sensitive in nature.
While calling for building a separate administrative mechanism for managing ministerial manpower, resolving service-related issues, and maintaining administrative discipline, the govt has also ordered a review of vacant posts in ministerial departments in accordance with their sanctioned staffing structures.
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