There is no end to re-employment of former Government officers in the PDP-BJP rule. In the latest move, the Government has engaged a former Director Planning as consultant in the key Planning Development & Monitoring Department (PD&MD).
Shakti Singh Jamwal, who attained superannuation in February this year, has been re-engaged as consultant in the Planning department for a period of two years.
“Sanction is hereby accorded to the engagement of Shakti Singh Jamwal as consultant in the Planning Development and Monitoring Department for a period of two years,” reads an order (209-PD of 2017, dated:16-05-2017) issued by the department.
Engaged on monthly salary of Rs 50000, the officer- who in his previous inning was looking after centrally sponsored schemes- has been assigned the task to assist the Government in monitoring of Prime Minister’s Development Package and other developmental issues.
The re-appointment has triggered widespread resentment in the Planning department, with employees questioning the move.
“On one hand Government is rehabilitating the retired employees by providing them post-retirement jobs but on the other it is sitting on promotions of officials working in the department,” they said.
According to officials, the engagement is in contravention of 2013 cabinet order that had put ban on the practice. The incumbent Government terminated all such engagements days after it assumed the office in 2015.
On March 17, 2015, the Cabinet ordered termination of all employees granted re-employment in various government departments by the previous NC-Congress regime. It also ordered that engagements made by the different departments, PSUs, boards and autonomous bodies without any selection procedure shall also cease to exist with immediate effect.
When contacted, Minister of State for Planning, Ajay Nanda, defended the appointment of Jamawal.
“It is an internal arrangement for functioning of the department,” he said. He said the appointment was made with approval of Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti.
As already reported by Kashmir Post , the Government earlier this year had disclosed that 29 persons were re-employed during its two-year tenure.
According to details, 12 former employees were engaged in J&K Muslim Waqf Board which is custodian of Muslim properties in Kashmir.
As many as 9 ex-employees were re-engaged in SIDCO which falls under the administrative command and control of Industries and Commerce department.
Ex-government employees were also engaged in Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI), Handloom Development Corporation and JK Minerals Ltd.
Apart from re-engagement of ex-employees, the present dispensation also rehabilitated 30 political activists including former MLAs by appointing them as vice-chairpersons and consultants in different Public Sector Undertakings and institutions.
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