Officers welcome LG’s directive

DELHI: In a major step to clean up Delhi government and the police machinery, lieutenant governor Anil Baijal on Thursday directed the chief secretary, vice-chairman of Delhi Development Authority, bosses of Delhi Police and urban local bodies to compulsorily retire officers who have become “deadwood” or “dark sheep” to ensure efficiency and effectiveness.This comes soon after the Centre compulsorily retired 27 high-ranking revenue service officers. “Action is essential to weed out ‘deadwood’ and ‘dark sheep’ to remove corruption from government functioning,” the LG said on Twitter , where he also announced his order. In a letter to senior officers, he has sought an action taken report within a month.There are provisions for periodic review of performance of government servants for strengthening of administration. It is done to ascertain whether the government servant should be retained in service or retired in public interest. Over the years many cases have been registered with the anti-corruption branch, vigilance and CBI against a number of civil servants working in the Delhi government.The LG has called for a multi-pronged strategy using a number of measures – legal, administrative and technological – to remove corruption from government functioning.Accordingly, the services department of Delhi government is going to work out a plan. The capital’s administrative set-up is constituted of a large bureaucracy in which IAS officers of the AGMUT — Arunachal Pradesh-GoaMizoram-Union Territories, excluding Andaman and Nicobar Islands — occupy the top slots. They are followed by officers belonging to the DANICS — Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands Civil Service — cadre.These officials serve in Delhi government, DDA and urban local bodies besides other agencies functioning under the Delhi government. Around 90 IAS and 150 DANICS officers currently occupy various positions. IPS officers of AGMUT cadre occupy top slots in Delhi Police followed by Delhi, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli Police Service officers.The LG has observed that probity and integrity are cornerstones 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.In his letter, the LG said, “To ensure that the government machinery remains efficient, effective and above board, FR 56(J)/ Rule-48 of Central Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 1972 are important administrative tools to weed out the ‘dead wood’ and ‘dark sheep’.” He also pointed out that recently the central government has taken effective steps to compulsorily retire many “tainted” government officers to cleanse the system.The LG’s decision has been welcomed by several IAS officers. Bureaucrat K Mahesh, who is honorary president of Delhi Administration Officers’ Academic Forum, a think tank of active civil servants, said that weeding out of dead wood in the bureaucracy was due for a long time.“The LG deserves applause for this initiative. It is a wake-up call for all government servants to either shape up or ship out for improving governance in Delhi with integrity and probity in public life,” said Mahesh. Delhi’s elected government many not be involved in the exercise because services falls under the purview of the LG.Deputy CM Manish Sisodia said if the elected government is not kept in the loop, it would be a useless exercise. Another bureaucrat, who did not want to be identified, said the initiative carries a huge potential to improve governance provided the hammer does not fall only on officers at the bottom of the hierarchy but also on executives ensconced at the top