The Forum for Good Governance (FGG) has requested the State government to review the practice of re-appointing retired officers and giving them multiple extensions.
In a letter addressed to Chief Secretary A. Santhi Kumari, FGG secretary M. Padmanabha Reddy urged the State government to dispense with the practice of appointing retired officers and giving them multiple extensions keeping in view the observations made by the Supreme Court in the S.K. Mishra case. The apex court termed the extension of Enforcement Directorate Director S.K. Mishra’s tenure as illegal, observing that frequent extensions could be used by governments as a carrot-and-stick policy to make officers toe their line.
Referring to Telangana, Mr. Padmanabha Reddy said that several All India Service officers and engineers were re-appointed and given extensions more than a couple of times. Many IAS, IPS and IFS officers were taken as advisers, Mr. Padmanabha Reddy said, adding that this practice sent an indication to working officers that if they toed the government’s line, they would also be given extensions or given the post of advisers.
He lamented that some IAS and IPS officers were working as advisers since 2014 with extension after extension given to them in the last nine years. He cited the example of the Irrigation Department’s engineer-in-chief, who had retired eight years ago. He was re-appointed and after two extensions, orders were issued extending his service until further orders. “Are we to take that he will be engineer-in-chief as long as he is alive?” Mr. Padmanabha Reddy asked.
He recalled that the government (GO Ms. 55 dated May 2, 2015) had imposed a ban on re-appointment/re-employment of retired officers as OSDs, consultants and advisers. In spite of clear instructions, several departments were appointing retired officers as OSDs, consultants and advisers. “Even the honest and upright officers are shifting their loyalties from the Constitution to politicians for plum postings and post-retirement benefits,” he lamented.
