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Punjab Civil Services, revenue officials go on mass casual leave
Work came to a standstill, and government offices wore a deserted look as the Punjab Civil Services (PCS) along with revenue officials proceeded on a five-day mass casual leave on Monday
Work came to a standstill, and government offices wore a deserted look as the Punjab Civil Services (PCS) along with revenue officials proceeded on a five-day mass casual leave on Monday.
Work at transport, revenue and administrative offices across Punjab was affected.
Expressing solidarity with the PCS Officers Association’s protest against the arrest of a Ludhiana regional transport authority (RTA), official, Narinder Singh Dhaliwal, for taking a bribe by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB), the state’s revenue officers on Monday also proceeded on mass casual leave till January 13, stalling revenue work across the state.
In a communiqué issued by Gurdev Singh Dham, president of the Punjab Revenue Officers’ Association, stated that they were backing the PCS officers against “the irresponsible and extortionist attitude of the VB.”
A revenue officer stated that their protest was against “the inaction of administrative departments and excesses of the vigilance that was wrongly implicating officers”.
Residents bore the brunt as government offices remained closed on Monday.
JP Singh, a resident of BRS Nagar, was surprised to witness the RTA office locked.
“I was here to ask about the procedure for renewing my driving license. On reaching the RTA office, I was told to visit next week. I was told that the entire district administrative complex was closed to express solidarity with RTA Narinder Singh Dhaliwal, who was arrested by VB in a graft case.”
He was not alone. Rajesh Kumar, of Chander Nagar, also faced a similar ordeal.
“I had visited the office of the sub-registrar (west) to complete the formalities of the land sale deed. However, I was told that the government officials are on strike and would return to work next week.”
The effect of mass leaves was also felt in Amritsar. The public faced hassle as empty offices halted all the official work. The people at the tehsildar’s office also had to return empty-handed.
Advocate Mohinder Pal, a Vasika Navis, said the strike caused a big inconvenience to the public and the work will remain halted for four more days as per the announcement of the officers.
The mass leave took a toll on the administrative work in the Patiala district as well. The offices remained empty as many of the IAS officers also went to Chandigarh to attend a meeting of the IAS officers association.
The public faced hardship as no land-related work, issuing of certificates, and court cases could be taken up. “I came here for the sale deed of my plot, but now the officials are on leave. I don’t know when I will get the next date for registration through online mode”, said Surinder Singh.
A meeting of employees’ unions in the departments of public works, excise and taxation and Punjab state power corporation to decide on the future course of action, remained inconclusive.
Vikas Kumar Juneja, president of the Deputy Commissioner Office Employees Union, said a day-long meeting was held through video conferencing with representatives of various unions across the state. “However, no decision has been taken on whether to join the PCS and revenue officials. As the officials remained on leave, no administrative work could be initiated today,” he said.
On Sunday, the PCS Officers Association decided to go on mass casual leave for five days after VB arrested Dhaliwal. The association alleged that procedures under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act were not followed and wanted the government to constitute a committee to investigate Dhaliwal’s ‘illegal arrest’. They demanded a report by Friday (January 13).
In the two-page resolution, the association said the committee should include IAS officers of principal secretary rank and a PCS officer, besides representatives of the transport department.
On Friday, the VB had arrested Dhaliwal, a PCS officer, for running a racket of collecting bribes from transporters. The action was taken after a complaint on the CM’s anti-corruption helpline. A VB spokesperson said the probe established that Dhaliwal used to collect bribes on a monthly basis. In December, he received a bribe of ₹4 lakh, out of which he used ₹1.7 lakh for himself, and the remaining amount was handed over to Punjab Home Guards (PHG) Bahadar Singh, attached with the Ludhiana RTA.
