Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal on Thursday told top government officials in the city to “weed out dead wood and dark sheep” by ensuring compulsory retirement of “tainted” officials, much in line with a policy recently implemented in several Central government departments.

The direction was issued by the L-G through a letter, copies of which were sent to the Delhi chief secretary Vijay Dev, commissioner of police, Amulya Patnaik, vice-chairperson Delhi Development Authority (DDA), Tarun Kapoor and the commissioners of the three municipal corporations. A statement issued by the L-G’s office said Baijal has sought a “multi-pronged strategy” using a myriad of measures — legal, administrative and technological — to remove corruption from government functioning.

The L-G also reminded top officials of provisions under the Central Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 1972 for carrying out the said order. Government employees in union territories (UT), which includes Delhi, come under the ambit of these rules.

Baijal has sought an action taken report from all the top officials in a month which means all agencies – Delhi government, Delhi police, DDA and the MCDs — may be looking at major crackdowns in the coming weeks against ‘corrupt or tainted’ employees.

The directive comes barely two weeks after the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government forced 27 senior Central Board of Indirect Taxes, Customs and Income Tax department officials to retire over allegations of corruption.

Seeking similar actions in the National Capital, as per the instructions issued by the Central government, the L-G’s office said the forced retirements of “tainted” government officers will help “cleanse the system from the malaise of corruption”.

“The L-G noted that probity and integrity are two corner-stones of public service, without which no administration can hope to achieve its objective of rendering citizen services in an honest, efficient and effective manner. He also observed that corruption lies at the root of arbitrariness and injustice, thereby weakening the moral and legal authority of any government,” the L-G’s office said.

The Rule 56(j) of Central Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 1972 provides for periodical review of performance of government servants with a view to
ascertain whether they should be retained in service or retired from service in public
interest.

As per these instructions, the cases of government servants covered by FR 56(j), 56(1) or Rule 48(1) (b) of CCS (Pension) Rules, 1972 should be reviewed six months before they attain the age of 50-55 years, in cases covered by FR 56(j) and on completion of 30 years of qualifying service under FR 56(1) or Rule 48 of CCS (Pension) Rules, 1972.

First Published: Jul 05, 2019 06:34 IST