Chandigarh seeks restoration of posts deemed abolished during Covid pandemic
UT departments may face staff shortages in case the restoration of posts deemed abolished is not carried out: Chandigarh employees will also have reduced chances of promotions in such a scenario
The UT administration approached the Union ministry of home affairs to exempt the posts that were deemed abolished in the last two years. A total of 2,159 posts, which were deemed to be abolished, are sought to be restored.
Several posts remained vacant over the last two years with the Covid pandemic not allowing for regular direct and indirect recruitments. A post, if vacant for two or more years, is interpreted as not needed by the demand, and consequently, termed as deemed abolished under central government’s rules.
Speaking about the same, UT adviser Dharam Pal, said, “We are actively pursuing the case with the centre. We have requested them to give two years exemption from this rule of posts being considered as deemed abolished. The pandemic situation did not allow for the filling up of these posts.”
Health, police and education depts among affected
A major chunk of these posts are of doctors and other healthcare workers. Abolishing these posts could lead to shortages of the requisite staff and it cannot be easily managed by the department.
“The health department is already struggling with a staff shortage. While the creation of the new posts, around 1,700, is pending with the centre for a long time now, so if existing posts also are considered as deemed abolished then the department’s ability to manage health services can get adversely affected. It puts undue pressure on the existing staff, particularly, if the pandemic again becomes active,” said a health department official.
Notably, over the last four to five years, the UT administration has repeatedly approached the Centre for the creation of more than 5,000 posts in various departments. But in nearly all cases, the new posts have not been approved.
There are more than 20,000 permanent UT employees, which are going to be affected by the abolition of the said posts as their promotional avenues would get restricted.
“As during the pandemic years, regular promotions couldn’t be made so most of the posts which have been abolished are up the hierarchy. If they remain abolished then the staff down the order would not get their due promotions,” a UT official said.
Recently, the Centre had decided to implement central services rules for UT employees in place of Punjab services rules. This has extended the retirement age of the UT employees by two years, from 58 years to 60 years.