State government employees are anxiously waiting for the government’s initiative to release schedule for departmental promotion committee (DPC) meetings as the panel year for promotions (September 1 to August 31) will expire in a couple of days.
The government had announced constitution of the DPCs last year. Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar earlier this year asked special chief secretaries, principal secretaries and other senior officials to complete the process of giving promotions to employees in Secretariat and at other levels.
A majority of the departments too are said to have complied with the directives but the process of giving promotions has been delayed because of “technical issues”. Guidelines issued by the High Court with regard to implementation of the rule of reservation in promotions is said to have delayed the process to some extent.
According to DPC rules, vacancies arising for different reasons, including promotions, retirement, death and leave reserve, should be assessed before the conclusion of the panel year so that there is clarity on the vacancy position for the next panel year. The exercise assumes significance in the light of the State government’s directives asking the department to submit details of the staff like regular employees, vacancies in the departments and those under contract and outsourcing basis.
The exercise has been launched consequent on Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s resolve to fill vacancies in direct recruitment posts initially, followed by vacancies arising due to promotions and for other reasons. An estimated 57,000 posts under direct recruitment are said to be pending at present.
Employee unions lament that the promotion process had not been initiated in the last two panel years too as a result of which several eligible employees were drawing less salaries. But for the government’s initiative to raise the retirement age from 58 to 61, several of them would have retired on low pay scales, resulting in lower pensions.
There are more than 350 proposals in respect of employees of ranks of section officers, assistant secretaries, deputy secretaries, additional secretaries and joint secretaries that are awaiting clearance for promotion. The other day, employees staged an impromptu sit-in in front of the Chief Secretary’s office, demanding that the process be completed at the earliest.
“These promotions will be cleared once the DPC meeting is held. But schedule for such meeting is not forthcoming yet,” a representative of the employee unions said. Employees are hopeful that the government would take the initiative in a day or two to notify the process of promotions or at least give promotions to a section of employees on ad hoc basis.
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