400 top officers sent packing under Modi
Nearly
400 senior officers in the Central service have either been
compulsorily retired or decided to opt for voluntary retirement
during the past eight years under Modi dispensation. These
officers in senior positions in the government quit due to a variety
of reasons between July 2014 to June 2022 which is a record of sorts.
This is despite the fact that there is a huge shortage of officers at
the senior levels as states are not relieving officers due to their
own compulsions.
As per official sources in the Ministry of Personnel, as many as 203 officers falling in Group A and 192 in Group-B categories have prematurely been sacked or allowed to seek voluntary retirement during this period.
This is the highest-ever number of senior officers going out of the service and the government is finding it difficult to fill the growing vacuum at the senior level. It even opened the Lateral Entrant route at the level of Director and above. But later, this option slowed down as this was not a permanent solution to meet the shortage of officers. The UPSC, the nodal agency for recruitment of grade A, B & C posts, has decided to accelerate the process of filling up thousands of vacancies.
It may be mentioned that Group-A officers comprise from the elite IAS, IFS, IPS, IRS etc while Group-B consists a step junior in service.
The DOPT said the government is vested with the absolute power to pre-maturely retire the government servants in public interest by invoking the provisions of service Rules – 56 (j). The government employees may seek retirement from service by opting for voluntary retirement with the permission of the government. It is said that many such officers under scanners are allowed to opt for this route too as evidence against them is weak.
