Ranchi: A special committee of the Jharkhand assembly, formed to review the promotion of SC/ST candidates in government services, has recommended stern steps in not just allowing promotions to eligible officials on merit, but also reversing promotions granted to people of general category. The panel has also suggested punitive action against officials of various departments, including that of personnel and administrative reforms, who allowed such promotions against norms.
The committee has also asked filing of a case against such officials under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. “In 2008, senior officials from the SC/ST category were ignored during promotions and junior officers from the unreserved category were promoted. This wrong practice started so there is an urgent need for an impartial inquiry in the matter and those found guilty must be booked under SC/ST atrocities (prevention) Act,” the committee said.
The special assembly committee, headed by Deepak Birua and comprising MLAs Neelkanth Singh Munda, Sarfaraz Ahmed as members and Bandhu Tirkey as special invitee, submitted its report along with the recommendations to speaker Ravindra Nath Mahto on Wednesday.
The panel was formed by the assembly over a question raised by Tirkey during the budget session last year. Tirkey had asked the minister of department to explain if candidates from general and backward class were promoted to the post of chief instructor in the state’s Industrial Training Institutes despite these positions being reserved for SC/ST personnel. The house had agreed to form a special committee to investigate the allegations.
Talking to TOI, Tirkey said the SC /ST employees in state government have been denied promotions after 2007-08. “This was done without issuing any resolution or government notification and general candidates got promotions on seats meant for those belonging to the reserved category,” he said.
The committee has recommended promotions to such eligible candidates (SC/ST category) with retrospective effect with all monetary benefits and rollback of promotions granted to candidates of unreserved category against these seats across government departments. The committee has also recommended punitive action against officials of the department in which erroneous promotions were granted.
“The chief secretary and the principal secretary of the personnel and administrative reforms department should also initiate action against officials who allowed such promotions and misled the house,” Tirkey said, quoting the committee’s recommendations.