State Engineering Gazetted Cadres are under multi pronged administrative, professional, and financial stresses
Due to poor HR Management some retired I/C CEs got pension even in AEE grade for Ten Years
Why even “Top Grade” Engineers from IITs rush for IAS stream & not even IES as first preference ?
J&K Gazetted Engineering Services not provided even Non-Functional (M) Grade Promotions
Daya Sagar
The state of human resource management (HR) affairs related to the J&K Engineering (Gazetted) Services as handled by the ‘concerned’ Administrative Department /’DPC’/PSC has been really disappointing well reflects from G.O 118 PWD(R&B) of 2021 of Date 25-03-2021 promoting Sh. R.K. Puri I/C SE as regular Superintending Engineer ( Mechanical ) w.e.f 01-09-2001 (15600-39100 GP7600 ( pre revised ) read with SRO 403 of 2018 dated 14-09-2018 and like G.O 266- PWD(R&B) of 2022 of 06-08-2022 regularising 384 I/C Assistant Engineers as Assistant Engineer ( 8000-275-12950 pre revised ) w.e.f dates as back as 28-12-2001 to 23-07-2014 issued in 2022 and that too subject to any writ petition pending in a court and mentioning the pay scales of sixth & fifth pay commissions when order is is over 8 years after application of VII pay commission grades. Not only that the order is issued in 2022 promoting some AE as AEE with effect from a 20 to 21 year old date and that with some condition laid there in when AE as per normal service rules is entitled for consideration for promotion as AEE after two year service and even eligible for promotion as Executive Engineer with min 8 yr service as AE and 4 year service as AEE. Imagine discouragement, if not financial loss, one may suffer when denied a promotion due after two yrs for 20 yrs ? One would hardly find such like case of IAS officer’s promotion which well speaks of efficiency & seriousness of HR handling in respect of IAS cadre which surely could be one of the prime reasons for the overall commitment, job performance and the level of initiative that is displayed by the IAS officers.
Promoting the Gazetted service cadres in incharge capacity and then again promoting from incharge capacity to another higher post in I/C capacity and even retiring some engineers as ‘I/C Chief Engineers’ worth getting pension only in the grade of Assistant Executive Engineer with even the Pension Pay Order mentioning the retired officer as I/C Chief Engineer ( not Asstt Executive Engineer ) was not happening in isolated cases but had/ has almost become a routine practice in J&K.
The J&K PDD, PWD and the like cadres had in 2018 many retired Officers getting pensions in grade of AEE or EE where some had retired as back as 2008 or so while working as I/C Chief Engineer , when J&K State Administrative Council ( SAC) had on 22-10-2019 , inter, alia, directed that the proposal for regular promotions in the Engineering cadre of the Power PDD be processed for consideration of the competent authority in government through the Establishment cum Selection Committee , even without reference to the J&K PSC as one time exception for completion by 30.11.2019. So painfully by then even a few UN-REGULARISED JKPDD RETIRED Engineers had expired without seeing ‘orders’ of their regularisation and some who had retired even 7-10 years as I/ C Chief Engineer but still getting pension only in the grade of AEE ( Asstt. Executive Engineer) for no fault of their’s. The Governor / SAC had surely been considerate enough at least on 22-10-2019 to fix a little over one month for disposals of pending files and it was hoped that atleast the cases of retired engineers would be decided by 30-11-2019.But here also , as said earlir, it was only after about 30 months in 2022 with Sh. Nitishwar Kumar, IAS Principal Secretary taking over PDD and Sh. A.K. Mehta IAS as Chief Secretary the process of deciding case files of retired incharge promotees of PDD appeared to have been given due priority when orders like Government Order No. 49 -JK (PDD) of 2022 D a t e d: 22-04-2022 promoting Er. Vinod Khajuria ( who had retired in 2012 after working as I/C Chief Engineer but was getting pension in the grade of AEE only ) as Ex. Engr w.e.f 15-09-2006,, G.O. Order No. 50 -JK (PDD) of 2022 Dated: 22-04-2022 ( same day) promoting Er. Vinod Khajuria as SE w.e.f 15-09-2010 and G. Order No. 51 -JK (PDD) of 2022 D a t e d: 22-04-2022 ( same day ) were issued promoting Er. Vinod Khajuria as Chief engineer w.e.f 12-09-2012 .Similarly Er. S.K Raina who had retired in 2008 had been promoted as SE vide G.O. No. 50 -JK (PDD) of 2022 D a t e d: 22-04-2022 w.e.f 14-09-2006 and Vide G.O 51 -JK (POD) of 2022 D a t e d: 22-04-2022 as Chief Engineer w.e.f 14-09-2007. Similarly orders were also issued in favour of other retired engineers ( not all ). But some engineers who had retired as I/C SE or and I/C CE were not regularized as I/c SE or I/C CE since before retirement as I/C SE or I/C CE they may not have worked as regular EE for 3 yrs or regular SE for one year (interms of service rules for PWD (R&B) Gazetted service regulations which are taken as applicable to PDD department / Mechanical Engg Department also).
Position is not much different in other Engineering Departments like PWD–R&B ( Mechanical / Civil). One Mr GML had entered gazetted engineering service in 1973 as Asstt Engineer through PSC and had retired in 2005 after 32 years of unblemished service in Gazetted Engg Cadre. Er. GML had been promoted as AEE only in 1987 after working for 14 yrs as AE ( as against requirement of not more than 2 yrs ) , he was promoted as Incharge Executive engineer after working as Asstt Engineer for 14 years & AEE for 10 years as against requirement of 4 yrs as AEE vide -PWD of 1997 dated 01-05-1997 . Er. GML was further promoted as incharge SE from position of I/C EE vide order No 27- R&B of 2003 dated 12 -05-2003 with the condition of approval by PSC/DPC ( surely he fulfilled the eligibility condition) and was further posted SE (M) Irrigation Flood Control Circle Jammu from where he was again transferred and posted as incharge SE vide GO 434/PW/R&B of 2004 of 10 -11-2004 as SE(M) in Thein Dam Project against a post ( vacated by M S Sethi) and then again posted as I/C SE vide order number 451-PWD (R&B) OF 2004 DATED 29-11-2004 in the office CE PHE Jammu. It was again on 27-12-2004 that vide GO No 480-PWD(R&B) that GML was transferred and posted as I/C SE ( M) PHE RURAL Circle Jammu..GML To be brief Er GML had been posted / transferred as I/C SE 3 times before communication was issued stating that the said officer was retiring on 30-04-2005 and he should hand over the Charge of SE to Mr. so and so officer. But so strangely orders for his regular promotion were issued after his retirement only as Executive Engineer vide GO No468-PW/R&B OF 200 DATED 01-12-2005 w.e.f 01-06-2000 & not w.e.f 1997 ( when he was promoted as I/C EE after having worked as AEE for 10 yrs ) whereas since the case file was being processed after his retirement he should have been regularized as SE as well because he had worked for more than 3 years as EE even after 01-06-2000 what to talk of 1997. Mr GML after 18 year retirement is still getting pension in the Grade of EE ( Level 11 ) and not in the Grade of SE ( Level 13 ) in 2024.
Reasons for such type of handling of affairs can not be easily conceived , may be the staff handling HR affairs in the Administrative Departments are over loaded and the Administrative Secretaries are not well supported at the ministerial levels too; if so is the case it should not be allowed to stay for long.
( Daya Sagar is a Sr Journalist and Social Activist)