No IAS transfer policy in Punjab

[karira]

As reported by Parvesh Sharma of TNN on timsofindia.com on 24 March 2008:
No IAS transfer policy in Punjab-Chandigarh-Cities-The Times of India

No IAS transfer policy in Punjab

PATIALA: It's official. There are no prescribed procedures/policy regarding postings and transfers of IAS officers in the state of Punjab. The information came to light thanks to an RTI query by Kamal Anand.

Worse, in the absence of any policy, officers seem to be working as per their wishes, paying little heed to the mandatory norms. As many as 52 IAS officers out of the total 149 posted in Punjab have not even submitted their Annual Confidential Reports (ACR) for the year of 2006-07 (till March) even as 2007-08 is set to end soon.

Interestingly, as per norms, the ACR must be submitted annually so that the officers' performance could be assessed.

"The information is shocking - all 149 IAS officers in Punjab have been appointed and transferred without any policy. It means that these bureaucrats are getting appointed as per the whims of politicians, and not on the basis of merit," said applicant Anand.

In the applications submitted in December 2007 to the office of Punjab chief secretary, Anand had sought the certified copy of transfer procedure/policy for the IAS officers posted in Punjab. He had also asked for details of ACRs and the number of IAS officers in the state.

The information that Punjab government has no prescribed procedure/policy regarding posting/transfers of IAS officers is enough to indicate that the bureaucrats are working on the mercy of their political masters. Centre has been writing (copies available with TOI) to states since November 2006 to consider a notification for fixing a minimum-two-year tenure for IAS officers. However, Punjab government is yet to take a call on this.

Acting on the proposals of UPA government, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pardesh, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh have issued notifications, fixing a minimum tenure of two years for IAS officers to end political interference.

Punjab chief secretary Ramesh Inder Singh confirmed that the state government did not have any exclusive transfer policy for IAS officers posted here. "We have a general transfer policy that is applicable to all services in state," he added.

Officiating president of Punjab IAS Officers' Association JR Kundal said, "There must be a reasonable tenure for all IAS officers in the state so that they can perform their duties to the best of their potential. We know that Centre has been urging states to fix a minimum tenure of two years. However, nothing has been done by Punjab government."