Centre decides to extend tenure of 17 Lateral Entrants, issue pending before the Parliamentary Panel after ruckus
The Centre has decided to extend the tenure of 17 officers appointed through Lateral Recruitment in 2021-22 for a period of three years. On the expiry of their three year term on contract and deputation to various ministries and departments, the Union government decided to extend the service of seventeen officers. Of these 17 officers, three are working as Joint Secretary while 12 are in the rank and pay of Director and two are serving as Deputy Secretaries in various ministries and departments. These 17 officers will have to sign a new contract which will extend their service for a specified period on contract basis.
It may be mentioned that the issue of lateral entry to fill key posts in government departments had triggered a huge political row earlier this year over lack of reservation for these positions. Several Opposition leaders, including Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav, had criticised the policy for not having reservations for Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST), and Other Backward Classes (OBC) candidates. Some of the NDA’s allies, such as the Janata Dal (United) and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) also opposed the move.
Later, the Centre directed the UPSC to withdraw advertisements for recruiting lateral entry into bureaucracy. Earlier, the Centre had opened a fresh round of lateral recruitments, from the private sector and elsewhere, into senior posts in the bureaucracy and UPSC, in August 2024, was to recruit 45 Lateral Entrants. The issue was then referred to the Parliamentary panel to examine which the Centre had opened in 2018 to appoint persons for specific assignments. The matter is pending before the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice for examination in 2024-25. However, the government has now decided to extend the tenure of these 17 Lateral Entrants.
