Haryana sets ₹20 lakh limit to buy staff car for babus re-employed after retirement

Officials said issuing new instructions had become imperative as the Manohar Lal Khattar-led BJP-JJP government was often grappling with this issue of post-retirement entitlement of staff car for retired officers appointed as chairpersons or members.

Bureaucrats being given plum posts as chairpersons or commissioners of Constitutional bodies after retirement will not be entitled for a new staff car costing more than ₹20 lakh in Haryana.

All the officers given post-retirement assignments in these statutory, non-statutory, constitutional bodies, commissions, authorities etc are entitled for perks including staff car, bungalow and service of a battery of personal staff such as peon and clerk. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Different types of vehicles were being purchased for officers appointed after retirement to statutory, non-statutory, constitutional bodies, commissions, authorities etc in the absence of any specific provision regarding entitlement of staff car, according to a July 2 order of the government.

Officials said issuing new instructions had become imperative as the Manohar Lal Khattar-led BJP-JJP government was often grappling with this issue of post-retirement entitlement of staff car for retired officers appointed as chairpersons or members.

“After careful consideration, the state government has now decided that whenever any government officer (including an All-India Service officer) after retirement is re-employed/appointed...under Haryana government, he/she will be entitled to a staff car the cost of which will be up to 10 times the last basic pay drawn by the officer. This condition will be subject to a ₹20 lakh ceiling, excluding taxes,” the government has said in a communiqué to the administrative secretaries, heads of departments, divisional commissioners and deputy commissioners.

In case the officer re-employed after superannuation doesn’t want to avail the facility of staff car and opt for a private vehicle (with own driver) to undertake official duty at the headquarters and outside the headquarters, the government will pay road mileage allowance @ ₹18/per km up to 5,000 kms in a month. The journey beyond 5,000 kms in a month will be treated as private.

Haryana government has been offering plum posts to retired officers as has been the practice during earlier governments too.

In April, the government had appointed former IAS officer Navraj Sandhu (1984-batch) as the chairperson of the police complaint authority, and Kameshwar Kumar Mishra, IPS (retd), and Ramesh Chand Verma, IAS (retd), as members. The chairperson and members of the police complaint authority hold the posts for three years from the date of joining.

Last month, TC Gupta was appointed as chief commissioner of Right to Service Commission within weeks after he superannuated from the IAS.

Earlier, the government had appointed former IAS officer Dhanpat Singh as the state election commissioner (SEC) and former chief secretary Keshni Anand Arora, as chairperson of Haryana Water Resources Authority.

All the officers given post-retirement assignments in these statutory, non-statutory, constitutional bodies, commissions, authorities etc are entitled for perks including staff car, bungalow and service of a battery of personal staff such as peon and clerk.