UP: Illegally promoted during Akhilesh regime, 4 info officers demoted as peon, watchman, operators

LUCKNOW: In a unique case of demotion, four additional district information officers were demoted to their parent posting as peon, watchman, and cinema operator-cum-communication assistants after their promotions were found to be illegal.

The Uttar Pradesh government issued orders in this regard on Saturday. The decision was taken by the state authorities after a helper in the information department filed a writ petition in the Allahabad High Court seeking promotion citing the example of four employees of his rank who were promoted as
additional information officers in 2014 during the Samajwadi Party rule.

Following the Saturday decision, Dayashankar, an additional district information officer in Firozabad, was demoted and asked to join his previous posting as a watchman. Similarly, Narsingh, who was also posted as an additional district information officer in Bareilly, was demoted as a peon. Vinod Kumar Sharma and Anil Kumar Singh, who were promoted as additional district information officers in Mathura and Bhadohi respectively, were ordered to return to their previous profile as cinema operator-cum-communication assistant.

Though the court dismissed the petition observing that the right to promotion was strictly regulated by service rules, it also instructed the director (information) to decide on the representation and consider the grievance of the petitioner that other employees of his rank had been promoted.

Following the court order, the information department rummaged through the records and found that the four employees were promoted even though there was no such rule to this effect.

A senior officer in the state information department claimed that the helper’s claim to entitlement was also rejected as inappropriate.