Mass transfers in local bodies dept: No headway in inquiry ordered by Punjab CM

Dept says most transfers were only a handing over of additional charge

Nearly four months after Punjab chief minister Capt. Amarinder Singh ordered an inquiry into mass transfers of engineers and other staff in several local civic bodies without the knowledge of the minister in charge Brahm Mohindra, there has been no headway.

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Also, the local bodies department staff is underplaying the episode, saying most of the above said transfers were only a handing over of additional charges and not independent postings. When the personnel department asked local bodies to explain the mass transfers effected in September last year, the department said they had no alternative as work was suffering .

“However, most of those given additional charges were divested of those responsibilities,” said a a high ranking officer in the department who was not willing to be quoted.

Director local bodies Bhupinder Singh told HT that he had already sent the transfer records to the personnel department, refusing to divulge further details. He said he he has little information as he was not posted in the department at that time.

On joining back Mohindra wrote to the CM, terming the transfers illegal and unethical, saying the transfers indicated lack of respect for norms and violated standing orders.

It was then that the CM directed chief secretary Karan Avtar Singh to investigate the transfers, the inquiry by personnel department, and to ascertain involvement of officials posted at the head office of the local bodies department in Chandigarh.

Former director of the department Karnesh Sharma has already faced heat for permitting the transfers and allotting additional charge in violation of ‘rules of business’ which specify that the powers are vested with the CM, minister in-charge and administrative secretary as head of the department. Sharma was transferred out of the department in November month as he failed to explain the large number of transfers without consent of the minister.

As per protocol and precedence, depending upon the rank of the officer, the directorate, while giving additional charge of other station besides the place of posting, must take orders from the minister or the administrative secretary.