While the ban on extensions, re-employments and additional charges itself necessitates termination of the services of those holding key positions on post-retirement extensions for a long time, the officers holding additional charges can also be asked to vacate the positions the charges of which they are presently holding in addition to their own duties.
With Chief Minister Omar Abdullah announcing a blanket ban on extensions, re-employments and additional charges the administrative restructuring of the civil administration is likely to witness some major changes in coming weeks in Jammu & Kashmir. While the ban on extensions, re-employments and additional charges itself necessitates termination of the services of those holding key positions on post-retirement extensions for a long time, the officers holding additional charges can also be asked to vacate the positions the charges of which they are presently holding in addition to their own duties. The decision would obviously resolve the long pending grievances of stagnation of dozens of officers in the middle and upper rungs of civil administration. Ending the additional charge syndrome won’t only resolve the grievances of the in-service officers about their stagnation but would also resolve the grievances of the people about the administrative bottlenecks they face in the speedy disposal of the routine works in the Government offices. Obviously the officers once offered independent charges of the positions to be vacated by those holding them in addition to their own duties would attend and resolve pressing the matters of public interest in short time and also smoothen delivery of public services in the areas of their administrative jurisdiction. It is also a fact that while holding independent charges officers can’t also take lame excuses now for the failures in delivery of public services like those holding additional charges presently. Notably experiences of yesteryears have shown that matters demanding urgency can be better attended and resolved by the officers holding independent charges but not those holding additional charges. Similarly officers working on post-retirement extensions can in no way perform better than the in-service officers who for all practical purposes commanded great deal of respect within and outside their departments. As far as the re-employments of retired bureaucrats is concerned experiences have shown that in-services officers are better suited to the administrative environments in Government offices than the retired people re-employed by the Government for one or the other reason.
“Though decision on extensions, re-employments and additional charges once implemented in civil administration would strengthen the system of responsibility and accountability across the Government Departments but all depends on the practices and procedures that are adopted for the postings and transfers of the top and middle rung bureaucrats by the Government”.
Experiences in yesteryears have also proved it beyond doubt that retired officers once re-employed though tend to assert and act to perform better but in the end they fail to do so and in the process the work culture under such officers does not improve at all. Re-employments and extensions if at all is a situational compulsion for the Government due to shortage of competent hands leads to adhocism which spoils the work culture in Government Departments. Though decision on extensions, re-employments and additional charges once implemented in civil administration would strengthen the system of responsibility and accountability across the Government Departments but all depends on the practices and procedures that are adopted for the postings and transfers of the top and middle rung bureaucrats by the Government
