NAGPUR: Forest Employees Coordination Committee (FECC), an association of retired employees, has issued legal notice to Forest Development Corporation of Maharashtra (FDCM) for appointing retired employees on contract basis illegally.
The notice has been served by FECC president Pundlik Muneshwar, through lawyer SW Deshpande, to cancel the illegal appointments, failing which he has threatened to move the court.
Muneshwar said continuous appointment of former employees is against the GRs issued on December 17, 2016, denoting procedure for allotting piece of work to retired staff in order to utilize their experience and skill to train existing employees for improved working.
On September 30, contract of 14 employees came to an end while three ex-employees — DK Tak, LN Mahajan, and MH Balbudhe — have been granted extension on October 5, 2020. Besides, one VS Pantawane was granted extension even in absence of any initial appointment and work contract as per rules.
Muneshwar has pointed out in the notice that a section of officials had given a representation to FDCM on April 30, 2020, demanding end to the contract system and give promotions to existing employees. The FDCM is spending huge amount on salaries of former employees by appointing them year after year.
Four employees — AB Patwardhan, SS Uware, SR Nichat, and SS Jaiswal — are working for years together even as the selection committee has declared them ineligible, Muneshwar claimed.
Muneshwar alleged the task assigned to these retired officials is of routine nature for which staff is already there. The appointing authority has never appraised or evaluated the work done by these employees and no daily worksheets are maintained, but salaries are released regularly.