E-Paper
Dharam Pal among 7 in race for Chandigarh RTS panel’s top post
Post amended to ‘chief commissioner’, Second Innings Association alleges rules tweaked, writes to Chandigarh administrator
A total of seven people, including UT adviser Dharam Pal, have applied for the post of commissioner at the Chandigarh Rights to Service Commission (CRSC).
The last date for application was August 16.
The Union ministry of home affairs had extended the Punjab Right to Service Act, 2011, and the Punjab Right to Service (Amended) Act, 2014, to the Union territory of Chandigarh on August 14, 2017.
While ensuring delivery of time-bound services to public, the Act is also aimed at reducing corruption among government officials and increasing transparency and accountability. The commissioner’s post has been vacant since March 21, after KK Jindal’s retirement, following which the chargewas given to Dharam Pal, who will be retiring on October 31, 2023.
Apart from Dharam Pal, retired Haryana cadre IAS officer Arun Kumar, former principal chief commissioner of Income Tax Anu Jagmohan Singh, a retired IAS officer from Punjab and three retired IAS officers from Delhi are the other contenders for the post.
A notification to invite applications for the said post was issued on December 9, 2022, as well, but the process was never brought to completion.
On July 25 this year, a fresh notification was released to invite applications, this time after modifying the post to “chief commissioner of CRSC”.
Taking exception to amendment of the post title without any apparent justification, the Second Innings Association, a senior citizens’ body, has written to the UT administrator.
In the letter, association president RK Garg said last year, applications were invited for the post of “commissioner of CRSC” as per terms and conditions contained under Section 13 and Section 15 of the Right to Service Act.
“The applications were invited within 30 days of the advertisement. The process was never completed and results for applications received are not known to the public. No information has been supplied under the RTI Act even after an appeal,” he complained.
The letter said on June 12, the UT administrator amended the notification, dated January 23, 2018, to the extent that the Chandigarh Right to Service Commission shall be headed by a “chief commissioner”.
This amendment has been carried out without assigning any reasons whatsoever, following which, on July 25, 2023, another public notice was issued inviting applications for the post of “chief commissioner”, it added.
“It is a matter of concern that for such an important public post that is going to impact the rights of people for the next five years, the fair procedure has not been adopted and fair opportunity has not been offered to a vast field of public life,” the letter stated.
As per Section 13 (3) of the Right to Service Act, “The commissioner shall be a retired officer of the government of Punjab in the rank and status of a secretary or its equivalent rank and status in any of the services of the state, including officers of all India services from the Punjab cadre, and/or expert in the field of public administration or e-governance with at least 20 years of experience in teaching or administration or from among other eminent public persons.”
