Nirmala Sitharaman approved the sacking of the officials

In a punitive action, the Defence Ministry has sent five officers of the Military Engineering Services (MES) on compulsory retirement on the grounds of poor performance, official sources said on Thursday.

They said the orders for their removal were issued on Tuesday following approval by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

The sources said performance of the officers was found "poor" in an internal performance audit.

The officers were serving in the rank of assistant engineers and they are being given three months' salary and post retirement benefits as per laid down guidelines.

The officials had either crossed 55 years of age or completed 30 years of service. Performance of around 500 officers was analysed by an internal committee and the action was taken based on its report.

In August 2017, the ministry had sacked 13 officers of the Ordnance Factory Board for poor performance following a review of the employees' performance.

The MES is a premier construction agency which provides engineering and infrastructure support to the Indian Army. It is one of largest construction and maintenance agencies in India with a total annual budget to the tune of approximately Rs 13,000 crores.

The sources said government may continue to crack down on those showing "unsatisfactory performance".