The Allahabad Bench of Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) has sought reply from the UPSC and Uttarakhand government on a plea challenging 360-degree appraisal system for Joint-Secretary and above level officers and the recruitment of private sector specialist into central government on a contract basis.
A notice has been issued for appearance and production of relevant record to the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) through its Secretary.
The move comes following an application by Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer Sanjiv Chaturvedi, who is working as Chief Conservator of Forest (Research) at Haldw, Uttarakhand, seeking quashing of the 360-degree appraisal system and restraining the central government from filling up of posts of Joint Secretary-level and above posts through "contract system".
T C Agarwal, counsel for Central Govt has sought some time from the CAT to "seek instructions from the department".
In his plea, Chaturvedi has also sought investigation to fix responsibility into various irregularities into the recruitment process of Joint Secretary rank officers through the contract system.
A total of nine private sector specialists were in August last year appointed as joint secretaries in different central government departments.
The serious flaws of this 360-degree system have been pointed out in detail by a Parliamentary Committee report, submitted in August 2017.
"The Committee finds the present 360 transparent and subjective as the concerns of the Second Administrative Reforms Commission have not been suitably addressed. Feedback in this process is obtained informally, making the process susceptible to being mpulated.
"Further, the feedback received from subordinates and stakeholders may be biased and lack objectivity, particularly-if the officer had to discipline his subordinates or he was unable to meet the unjustified demands of stakeholders", said the report.
On the issue of lateral entry, Chaturvedi cited documents accessed through Right to Information (RTI) application filed by him from the Centre and said that the "contract system is completely arbitrary and irrational".
The Personnel Ministry had fixed eligibility criteria of 15 years experience among others for private sector specialists to apply for the ten joint secretary posts advertised by it in June 2018, the petition says citing official documents.
However, as per official guidelines, for Group- A officers, minimum experience of 17 years is required for consideration for empanelment for Joint Secretary rank, it said.
Chaturvedi has enclosed a 2017 note and file notings from the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), on the lateral entry proposal that shows that as many as 3,065 officers were empanelled to hold Joint Secretary and equivalent posts at Centre, against a vacancy of 21 at JS level in CSS (Central Staffing Scheme for central deputation), on 31.01.2017.
However, the same noting proposes a selection of Joint Secretary level officers from "open market" in view of "present shortage at the level of Joint Secretary".
The petition further says that "documents obtained under the RTI Act, prima facie reveal certain very serious irregularities, which need to be investigated objectively by an appropriate Agency".
It cited a DoPT letter dated August 21, 2019, that mentions that certain selected candidates were in the lower grade pay level than that of Joint Secretary level and in one case it has been recorded that even there is no information about the scale of pay of selected candidate.
While in another case certain discrepancies/ variations regarding fulfilment of criteria of a minimum level of annual income has been pointed out, the plea filed by Chaturvedi said.
( With inputs from ANI )
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