Tag Archives: Defence Secretary

Drdo

Why Has the RM Remained Silent on J. R. Joshi’s Arbitrary Actions, Despite His Legally Quashed Status Surviving Only on the Oxygen of a High Court Stay?

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It is observed from the inputs received through the website that these developments raise serious questions that the nation must examine with utmost vigilance. As patriotic citizens, can we blindly accept a situation where an individual, seemingly intoxicated by power and displaying an increasingly authoritarian and dictatorial attitude, is allowed to jeopardize BrahMos—a strategic symbol of the close and enduring ties between India and Russia?

The issue is no longer merely an internal administrative matter. When actions surrounding an institution of strategic significance such as BrahMos raise concerns about institutional integrity, accountability, transparency and national interest, silence itself becomes a matter of serious public concern.

It is therefore a humble yet urgent appeal to the nation, the Hon’ble Prime Minister and the Hon’ble Raksha Mantri: intervene before the situation deteriorates further.

Stop this arbitrary exercise of authority.
Save BrahMos.
Save DRDO.
Protect India’s strategic interests.
And safeguard the enduring India–Russia friendship.

The nation deserves answers. The armed forces deserve institutions governed by integrity, accountability and due process, not personal authority or unchecked influence.

Current Status

Following the exposure of the alleged actions of J. R. Joshi and the concerns surrounding the matter, the 31st meeting has reportedly been rescheduled to 1700 hrs on 1 September 2026.

The rescheduling makes the matter even more significant and warrants close scrutiny by all concerned authorities.

Input received by website:

 “Latest developments 

  1. Board Meeting rescheduled on 01 Sept at 1700 hrs
  2. J R Joshi is still confident that Board will pass the resolution as per his conspiracy theory.
  3. Yesterday he went to HQs DRDO and met DG HR, Chairman, Addl FA and DG MSS to eye wash about the report. 
  4. Justice prevails as none of his favourite corrupted Scientists F like Dr. Abhisek Kumar PD Lucknow, were not promoted to G
  5. His rival group got promotions including earlier Dy CEO Dr. S K Joshi whom he managed to transfer to DIBER after confrontation using Dr Kamath’s influence.
  6. Dr J R Joshi is urgently going to Lucknow tomorrow. don’t know whether Jogi ji called him or not.’’

At this critical juncture, the question remains:

How long can the nation remain silent when the credibility of a strategically vital institution and a relationship of immense national importance may be at stake?

JAI HIND

Drdo

Headless DRDO: Day by Day organization is falling apart and PMO won’t be able to gather it all together. No matter how many Raghavan committee one might be create….

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There is a particular kind of silence that settles over an institution when it stops being managed and starts merely being administered. That silence has now hung over DRDO for months. An organisation tasked with the country’s missile systems, its aeronautical programmes, its strategic technology base, has been running without a dedicated chief since the start of June — and the closest thing to an explanation the public has received is a bureaucratic holding pattern.

It is observing by all national mind peoples that how serios GOI looking DRDO fate.

This is not a minor administrative gap. It is a signal.

In Jan 2024, the MOD (Ministry of Defence), acting under the direction of the PMO, constituted the Raghavan Committee to overhaul DRDO. The mandate was serious: an organisation with a well-documented record of missed timelines needed structural reform, not another internal review.

What followed instead was a familiar bureaucratic reflex. Subcommittees were formed to study the committee’s findings. Those subcommittees spawned further subcommittees. Officer Scientist and Distinguished Scientist-level personnel — among the most senior technical talent in the country — were pulled into cycles of review, re-review, and internal consultation that consumed months and, by extension, crores of public money.

Where did it go? That is not a rhetorical question. It is one the Ministry of Defence and the PMO owe the country a direct answer to. If the recommendations were implemented, where is the documentation of that implementation? If they were shelved, on whose authority, and why was the public never told?

If public want to see the effort of senior DRDO scientists with respect of Raghavan Committee, it can be only possible to see the dustbin of DRDO, MOD and PMO.

Silence is not an acceptable substitute for accountability on a reform effort of this scale.

The facts here are not in dispute. Dr. Samir V. Kamat’s tenure as DRDO Chairman ended with his retirement on 31 May 2026 with two year unfruitful extension. In his place, the Defence Secretary was handed additional charge — a stopgap measure explicitly described as temporary, pending a “regular” appointment.

The Ministry interviewed five shortlisted candidates for the post on 3 July 2026. That was over six weeks ago. As of this writing, DRDO remains without a permanent chairman.

An organisation responsible for the country’s strategic technology base has now gone more than two and a half months without a dedicated head, through a selection process the government itself initiated and has still not concluded. If this is efficiency, the Ministry should explain what inefficiency would look like. If there is a legitimate reason for the delay, the public — and the scientists working under this uncertainty — deserve to hear it stated plainly, not left to infer it from silence.

Beyond the vacancy itself, a pattern has been alleged by scientists and observers within and around the organization — one that the Ministry has never publicly addressed:

  • Why have promotions and appointments within DRDO’s leadership repeatedly drawn allegations of being steered toward a particular network, rather than decided strictly on domain expertise and merit?
  • Why has a senior appointment reportedly moved a person with a missile-technology background into a post overseeing aeronautical systems — a shift that, on its face, invites the question of whether technical fit was the deciding factor?
  • Currently the blessed lobby manipulating the promotions and appointments   without justifying like DG MSS no field of missile technology and who is man of missile become DG Aero what a joke but it is only possible in DRDO because 56% MSC chemistry is responsible to manipulating this, and his other qualification and experiences at the time of joining can verified from office of The AFHq, CO, A1B.
  • What is the status of the police complaint reportedly pending with Uttarakhand Police over the printing of a national flag upside down on an official publication? A pending complaint is a matter of public record, not a private matter — the public is entitled to know its status.
  • How many honest scientists have raised concerns internally, only to find their careers stalled rather than their concerns investigated? And how many court cases now exist as a result? Only way to see the great achievements, please go through the agencies reports silently.

None of this is cynicism for its own sake. It is a demand for the basic mechanics of accountable governance: that a reform committee’s findings be published and acted on, not buried; that a leadership vacancy at a strategic institution be filled with urgency, not left to drift; and that allegations of favoritism and credential fraud, once raised, be either formally investigated and closed, or shown to be baseless — not simply left to hang over the institution indefinitely.

DRDO does not need another committee. It needs an answer to the ones it has already commissioned. JAI HIND.

Drdo

DRDO chief not appointed even after three months

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Abhinandan Mishra,  Sunday Guardian: August 18, 2018

 

‘Selecting a new DRDO chief has become like walking on a landmine’.

The post of the chief of Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) has been vacant for nearly three months now, courtesy the apparent pressure tactics being employed by various quarters—both from inside the government and outside it. A few posts had fallen vacant in the last week of May after the incumbent DRDO chief Selvin Christopher retired following a three-year long tenure which included a year long extension. The post of SA to RM (Scientific Advisor to Raksha Mantri), which was held by G. Satheesh Reddy for three years, including a year-long extension till 4 June 2018, is vacant too. DRDO chairman is also the Secretary of Defence, Research and Development.

Since the retirement of Christopher, Sanjay Mitra, a 1982 batch IAS of West Bengal cadre, is the Defence Secretary, and he is also holding the additional charge of the post of Secretary, Department of Defence Research & Development and Chairman, DRDO for a period of three months, beginning 29 May.

Official sources said that this was for the first time that the DRDO was staying headless for this long. They attributed this situation to various stakeholders who are involved in the functioning of the organisation. The DRDO has an annual budget of Rs 20,000 crore; it spends the same on the upkeep of over 50 laboratories across India.

“The post of the DRDO chief is a very coveted one and apart from merit, other factors like political interference, regional interference, import lobby and foreign vendors play a crucial role in the whole exercise. The government is not giving a very good message by displaying indecisiveness. Ideally, the next chief should have been identified and notified even before the term of the incumbent ended,” a former top official who worked with the organisation for more than three decades, said.

According to officials, selecting a new DRDO chief had become like walking on a landmine in recent times. “So many names are floating in the media; many of them are being planted by their adversaries, many by the claimants themselves. There is not a single name whose candidature will not generate controversy unlike at the time of appointment of Abdul Kalam or V.K. Aatre or V.S. Arunachalam, all of whom were well-known scientists. Earlier, the DRDO was headed by scientists who were really reputed, but now the situation has changed,” a scientist, posted with one of the DRDO laboratories, said.

Sources said that the government had come close to appointing a new chief when Selvin Christopher’s term was about to end, but at the very last moment, there was a “negative intelligence report” on the one who had been shortlisted and the whole process was abandoned.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi had repeatedly expressed his concerns and apprehensions about the working of the DRDO. However, these concerns cannot be taken care of if the DRDO chief is appointed not because of merit, but due to his proximity to a particular minister or to a region,” the official said. In a not-so-covert hint that the organisation could be externally influenced, V.K. Aatre, who succeeded Kalam as DRDO chief, had once said that there were three non-state actors that influenced the working of DRDO: foreign vendors, mass media and the import lobby.

“If one traces back the history of the DRDO, one would come across names like Dr V.S. Arunachalam who had absolute freedom to walk into the office of successive PMs. He was close to Indira Gandhi and was able to secure a lot of money and autonomy for the organisation. Before him, we had people like Dr Daulat Singh Kothari, Professor S. Bhagavantam, Dr B.D. Nagchaudhuri, Prof M.G.K. Menon and Dr Raja Ramanna, who were scientists of international repute and were known for their work across the globe. Now it is not the same,” a senior official of the organisation said.

According to officials, the 2015 bifurcation of the post of the DRDO Chairman, Secretary of Defence, R&D and the SA to RM, which were earlier headed by the same individual, had led to two competing power centers within the organisation.

“This should not have been done as this has affected the value of the chair of the DRDO chief. Do you expect the SA to RM to give importance to the DRDO chief? Now every proposal that is brought by the DRDO is vetted by the SA to RM. There was a lot of friction between Selvin and Reddy because both of them thought they were more senior to the other,” an official of the organisation explained.

Former officials recalled how someone like Kalam, decorated with the , led the DRDO in the past. “He was the brain behind Pokhran-II; he was someone who stood shoulder to shoulder with the late Atal Bihari Vajpayee, a stalwart Prime Minister. We are missing a man like him. He needed no recommendation or political approach to become the chief of DRDO. People like Kalam had assumed a huge stature much before they had joined the DRDO,” an officer recalled.

Drdo

As S Christopher completes term, DRDO to remain headless for 3 months

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By Manu Pubby, ET Bureau|Updated: May 29, 2018

Christopher was in May last year given a one-year extension. His extended term ended today.

NEW DELHI: The Defence Research And Development Organisation (DRDO) could stay headless for as many as three months with the government failing to find a replacement for incumbent Selvin Christopher who retired on Monday. Efforts till late to grant him another extension in service could have delayed the appointment of a successor, with a search committee looking at probable names to recommend to the cabinet appointments committee.
Defence Secretary Sanjay Mitra will hold additional charge of the organisation till the government approves a scientist to take over the top position, an official notification said.

The past few weeks has seen jostling for the post. DRDO has an annual budget of `17,861 crore. Outgoing chief Christopher who was already on a year’s extension of service beyond the prescribed age but had been hoping for yet another extension.

This search committee list is expected to include the three senior most scientists of DRDO, besides the first woman to have made it to the post of director-general in the organisation. Sources said that those in the fray include missile scientists G Satheesh Reddy, the scientific advisor to the defence minister and the head of the Brahmos missile project, Sudhir Mishra.

While Mishra and Reddy come from the missile scientist community that has traditionally ‘ruled’ DRDO, also in contention is Pravin K Mehta, who heads the Armament cluster of the research organisation from Pune. A surprise entrant to the selection shortlist could also be DG Jillelamudi Manjula who heads the Electronics & Communication Systems vertical at DRDO.
As reported by ET, several top level appointments are pending at the defence ministry. The crucial posting to Northern Army Commander is still to be announced

Drdo

MoD Seeks Report on DRDO Contract Staff

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By Pradip R Sagar Published: 17th May 2015 06:00 AM -The New Indian Express
NEW DELHI: Taking cognisance of Express report, which highlighted that a huge number of contractual employees in the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) were posing a threat to the defence secrets in the wake of a few espionage cases coming to light, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has sought a detailed report from the premier defence research agency.

The April 27 report had said the agency had a strength of more than 50,000 temporary or casual employees, who had complete access to all its classified and research activities.

Alarmed over the issue raised by Express, Defence Secretary R K Mathur, who is holding additional charge of the Defence Research and Development Organisation, has sought a detailed report through an internal note issued on May 8 to Director Generals of all the Defence Research and Development Organisation establishments.

“It is therefore requested that requisite inputs in respect of all hired/ contractual employees in your cluster/laboratories and departments along with duration of employment, payment details, functional justification and copy of the relevant authority letter be furnished to the department by June 5 for further necessary action,” Major General Ajay Gupta, Director Vigilance and Security, said in the internal missive on the directions of the Defence Secretary.

These contractual employees are not only involved in every step of design and development of projects, but also in trials. Over 55 laboratories of the Defence Research and Development Organisation, mandated to develop products and technologies to modernise Armed Forces ranging from missiles to combat aircraft, have roped in over these casual employees to assist scientists.sunday standard 17 may 2015

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CVO,DRDO

The initiation taken by website cooruptionindrdo.com on the issue

To                                                                                                             27th April 2015     Hon’ble Shri Manohar Parrikar,                                                                                       Defence Minister,Room No -104,                                                                                     South Block, New Delhi-110011

SUBJECT:  DEFENCE SECRET IN DANGER, DIRECTOR, DRL, DRDO TEZPUR’s DIRECTOR SECRETARIAT MANAGED BY CONTRACTUAL LABOUR AS PERSONNEL SECRETARY

Sir,                                                                                                                                                                Yesterday (26th April 2015) The Sunday Standard first page news was “Defence Secret is in Danger”

In this reference, DRDO having lot of examples, DRDO is only one department where you can find contractual manpower above age of 70 or below 18 years. People may be think that because of their high skill expertise DRDO might been engage such manpower,  but matter of fact this practice adopted DRDO is only for those who are having good number of secrets or having evidences of wrong doings of DRDO bosses.

In ASL you will find people working since last more than 10 years after retirements, scientists, Technical Officers, who are experts in manpower/ logistic manipulations while missile firing, even JCDA retired account officer etc who are expertise in bill clearance from CDA. These specialized contractual having good assets that can be verified by agencies.

One major observation on these contract appointments is the not following the proper police verification.

ACEM, Nasik campus one murder was done by a contract’s man who has criminal records.

HEMRL GOCO contract labor business, the police verification was done on single list basis one stamp of Thana solved the problem and best part of this these hundreds of contract labours handle the high class explosive TATB.

For example in ADE, DRDO. Bangalore more than 170 B.Tech contract employees are working in core area for mare Rs 12000 and same time scientists who are getting hefty salaries Rs 80000 to 1.5 Lakhs are looking stores /admin /horticulture /works / security /Library etc

This Mail received by website www.corruptioninddo.com on Thu, 30 Oct 2014 01:19:10  IP: 49.206.192.222

HELLO SIR
all of us know about DRDL it is a dream job org to every one. but please think about contract employees. My husband is also working in DRDO RCI he is engineering graduate. From past 2 years he is working but he is getting 14k. how we can Liv with family in Hyderabad and this year no increments… we are not dreaming about permanent  job….. my small wish is to get better pay… for the same job a permanent employee getting nearly 4ok but contract employee getting only 12+.but work is same for both. am not asking to give 4o to contract people just i want to say please provide increments at least…this is not only my wish… i hope u can think & talk about this……….

if i made any mistake please excuse me….. Defence Minister Sir, hope you will take this above mail seriously

Following one example case of DRL, DRDO, Tezpur for your sharp analysis of this DRDO’s contract business.

  1. Sh.M.L. Roy is an ex-employee of Defence Research Laboratory (DRL), Tezpur who superannuated on 31 Dec 2008
  2. He was posted at Director Secretariat as Personal Assistant/Personal Secretary to Director, DRL, Tezpur prior to his superannuation from DRL, Tezpur.
  3. Right from his superannuation on 31 Dec 2008, he was start working at DRL, Tezpur as contractual Laborer and posted at Director He is engaged in all sensitive work like computerized compiling of materials in Director’s Office, monitoring and maintenance   of important files of Director Office which has already been mentioned in his contract.
  4. Since last 7 years continuously working in DRL, Tezpur as Personal Secretary (PS) to Director, DRL, and Tezpur by means of several private vendors / supplier/security agencies.
  5. M.L. Roy is presently of 65 +years age and not fit for this job as in this sensitive post any private contractual labour should not be appointed while several young skilled manpower is available in DRL, Tezpur.
  6. DRL, Tezpur having permanent staff Sh S K Sharma as PS ‘C’ but he was not assigned the right job.
  7. Interestingly Sh M L Roy working for Rs 5000 – Rs 6000 only as Jan 2015 Salary was Rs 5764.00
  8. Sh M L Roy working as mole for vendors, each and every file of procurements / recruitments/ transfer postings/temporary duties etc. moves from Director’s office.

Sir, it is requested kindly order for extensive survey of to explore the necessity of this contract business in DRDO. Because like Director, DEAL Sh R C Agarwal used these contract labour for kitchen gardening, to clean utensils, to wash his wife’s petticoats etc, when this issue published on website Sh R C Agarwal stopped using these labours. This British legacy are maintaining by DRDO directors and senior officers. I am enclosing two photographs of a contract labour is busy to wash his boss personal car in DRL, Tezpur campus

Jai hind

Prabhu Dandriyal,
21-Sunderwala, Raipur, Dehradun-248008                                                                                 Phone 0135- 2787750, Mobile- 9411114879,                                                                                 e-mail id prabhudoon@gmail.com  website www.corruptionindrdo.com

Enclosed    1.    DRL, Tezpur, contract bills in respect Sh M.L. Roy                                                             2.    Photographs of contract labour washing the personal car of bossDRL ML Roy caseDRL ML Roy case2DRL ML Roy case3

The i20 Personal Car Registration Number of RKR Singh is MN 01W 6847

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Drdo

Uncertainty dogs a leaderless DRDO

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Ajai Shukla | New Delhi May 4, 2015 Last Updated at 00:38 IST – Business Standard 
A sense of drift is palpable within the Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO), which has been without a leader for three months since the ouster of its widely respected chief, Avinash Chander, on January 31.

On that day, Defence Secretary R K Mathur was given additional charge of Chander’s post of Secretary, Defence R&D, for three months. That period expired on Thursday.

Mathur had held charge of only one of the three posts that Chander occupied – that of Secretary Defence R&D. The other two posts – Director General, DRDO, and Scientific Advisor to the Raksha Mantri – have lain vacant for three months.

The defence ministry is not alone in having key positions without incumbents. There has been no Chief Information Commissioner since August 22, and no Chief Vigilance Commissioner since September 28.

Without a chief, there are problems in coordinating between the DRDO’s seven technology clusters, each relating to a specific subject – e.g. aeronautics, missiles or naval systems. While cluster heads. called directors general, can function independently within their clusters, major development projects involve several clusters.

Among the programmes suffering from this lack of leadership is the Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) project. While the DRDO’s Aeronautical Development Agency oversees the Tejas project, it has no authority over the four technology clusters that feed into the LCA project. That coordination was always facilitated by the DRDO chief, who personally oversaw the LCA programme.

Another problem, say senior DRDO scientists, is professional insecurity caused by Chander’s unceremonious removal. On November 28, the defence ministry had granted him an 18-month service extension to head the DRDO till May 31, 2016. Forty-five days later, that extension was withdrawn.

The insecurity is most obvious among junior scientists, most of whom looked to Chander as an icon of the DRDO’s successful missile programme. “With such an accomplished scientist removed so arbitrarily, what job security do we have?” wonders a young scientist bitterly. Nor is there any clarity about who might succeed Chander. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had said while removing Chander, he wanted someone good from the DRDO who has the urge for development. Parrikar also stated he wanted a younger scientist to head DRDO.buisness standard 4 may 2015With almost all the DRDO’s top scientists already on extension, or nearing the retirement age of 60, 11 of the DRDO’s 12 top scientists might soon retire.

Of these 12 “distinguished scientists”, the DRDO’s top rank, equivalent to a lieutenant general, six have already crossed 60 years and are serving on extensions. Another five are 59 years of age, knocking on the doors of retirement.

The only candidate who fits Parrikar’s twin conditions – being from the DRDO, and also young – is Satheesh Reddy, the highly regarded chief of Research Centre Imarat, a missile technology laboratory outside Hyderabad. Reddy is just 52 years old.

Even so, MoD sources do not rule out bringing in an outsider, possibly from the Atomic Energy Agency, to head the DRDO.

There is also speculation that the three hats the DRDO chief traditionally wore might be split into two or more posts. Opinion on this is divided. The Rama Rao Committee, which proposed reorganising the DRDO, recommended the three posts remain vested in a single person. The subsequent Naresh Chandra Committee recommended separation, though not trifurcation.

The departments of space and atomic energy, which are often held up as models the DRDO could emulate, centralise powers in a single chief. The chairman of the Space Commission also heads the Indian Space Research Organisation, while simultaneously advising the prime minister on space matters.

Drdo

PMO Action on procurement of ICAD Chempro100i Make: Environics, Quantity- 999 costing approx 100 crores Prof Dr M P Kaushik’s role

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To                                                                                            7th March 2015

Sh A. M. Manichan,

Under Secretary (IC-IV), CPIO,

Ministry of Defence,

Department of Defence,

Sena Bhavan, New Delhi

 

Hello,

Kindly provide me with the following information requested under the purview of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005 in respect of letter of PMO ID No PMO/PMP/14/00047194 dated 09/01/2015 forwarded to Defence Secretary for action as appropriate on my letter dated 28/10/2014 regarding Prof Dr  M P Kaushik , Ex Director, DRDE, DRDO, Gwalior role on purchase of  ICAD Chempro100i Make: Environics, Quantity- 999 costing approx 100 crores.

  1. Current status of letter forwarded by PMO ID No PMO/PMP/14/00047194 dated 09/01/2015.
  2. Copy of file noting by Defence Secretary on above said letter.
  3. Copy of letter received from Intergraded Hqrs. of MoD, Master General of Ordnance branch, procurement Progressive Organization, DHQ, New Delhi -110011
  4. The  ICAD Chempro100i Make: Environics replaced by firm Yes/No

Regards

Prabhu Dandriyal,
21-Sunderwala, Raipur, Dehradun -248008
0135- 2787750, 9411114879,
prabhudoon@gmail.com www.corruptionindrdo.com   

Enclosed 

  1. Copy of letter of PMO ID No PMO/PMP/14/00047194 dated 09/01/2015
  2. Copy of my letter to Hon Prime Minister dated 28/10/2014PMO forwarded Dr M P Kaushik case to Def Scy

Registration Number MODEF/R/2015/60592

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Congratulations DRDO scientists – DRDO made a policy to use official’s vehicle for kiths & kin marriage

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Please see the enclosed photographs of DRTL, Metcalf House DRDO vehicle in front of Prithvi Block of DRDO residential complex, Timarpur.

Today on Saturday 21st Feb 2015 the fouji jawan doing duty since morning, ferrying Tandoor, Karahis (Halwai Utensils ) for Dr MR Bhutiyani, Sc G, Director, DTRL, DRDO daughter marriage.  He is so poor that he is getting 14000 Rs Transport Allowances per month. His daughter is software engineer in USA. He is captured directorship by lot of senior scientists. But he is so poor that he is misusing poor tax payers money.

Request all common man that expose all corrupt practices of DRDO officials – Jai Hind

Regards

Prabhu  Dandriyal,
21-Sunderwala, Raipur,
Phone 0135- 2787750, Mobile- 9411114879,
e-mail id prabhudoon@gmail.com  website www.corruptionindrdo.com
 
Copy to
  1. Sh R K Mathur, Defence Secretary, Room No 101 A, South Block, New Delhi – 110011
  2. General Dalbir Singh Suhag, Army Hqrs, Sena Bhawan, Rajaji Marg, New Delhi 110105 – For necessary action please DRDO is using country’s jawan for their personal family business.

    Date & Time 21/02/15 at 09:11 Hrs
    Date & Time 21/02/15 at 09:11 Hrs Vehicle No 03B/86197X

    Date & Time 21/02/15 at 09:11 Hrs
    Date & Time 21/02/15 at 09:11 Hrs Vehicle No 03B/86197X

    dtrl2
    Date & Time 21/02/15 at 09:11 Hrs Vehicle No 03B/86197X

     

Drdo

Contractual appointment post-retirement not in rules

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HT Correspondent, Hindustan Times New Delhi, May 28, 2012
First Published: 00:18 IST(28/5/2012) | Last Updated: 00:23 IST(28/5/2012)

Faced with uncomfortable questions on the lack of clarity in allowing some of its officials to continue in service after retirement, the government has conceded that post-retirement appointment on contract basis is not covered by the rules defining extension of service.
The government’s view has come in the form of replies to questions in both Houses of Parliament on the grant of extension for coal ministry secretary and appointment of law secretary on contract basis for a period of a year and 11 months.

The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), in its reply to Lok Sabha MP Asaduddin Owaisi, has stated that “government servants are allowed to continue in service after 60 years in rare and exceptional cases.”

Owaisi wanted to know why the continuation in service of Central government officials beyond the age of 60 years was not being treated as a violation of government’s own rules.

The DoPT has made it clear that decisions in such matters are taken “on a case-to-case” basis and has also given its view on officials being employed on contract. “Appointment of an officer after superannuation (after retirement) is not covered by the provisions of Fundamental Rule 56, which deal with extension of service,” the department said in its reply.

The DoPT has stated that All India Services Rules, 1958, provide for extension in service in public interest “only to the incumbents of five posts — cabinet secretary, defence secretary, home secretary, director of Intelligence Bureau, and director of Central Bureau of Investigation.”

On the question of promotion chances of serving officers being hampered by extensions and employment on contract of retired officials, the DoPT has stated that the government is committed to ensure “promotion aspects of long-serving bureaucrats are not hampered.”

The DoPT’s reply, however, is not in line with law minister Salman Khurshid’s reply in the Rajya Sabha last week on the appointment of law secretary on contract.

Khurshid had stated that such an appointment was done “since there was a need for a high-level technical person towards handling of law”. This particular criterion does not find mention in the existing list of government rules which allow continuation of officials beyond the age of 60 years in particular fields.

Apart from the five posts mentioned above, the government rules allow specialists in health services, scientific field, those dealing with budget work and full-time members of a committee to be wound up soon, to continue in service after retirement.