Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw approves forced retirement for 10 senior DoT officials | India News


NEW DELHI: The government has forced into retirement 10 senior telecom department officials, some with doubtful integrity, as part of zero tolerance towards corruption. The move follows similar measures taken over the past few years where nearly 400 officers with a dubious track record were removed from government.
Communications and IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw approved the forced retirement for 10 senior DoT (Department of Telecom) officials, including a joint secretary, according to an official source. This is the first time DoT employees have been given forced retirement under Section 56(J) under Pension Rule 48 of CCS (Pension) Rules, 1972.
‘9/10 DoT officials forced to retire were of director level’
“The telecom minister has approved forced retirement for 10 senior DoT officials for doubtful integrity and the government’s zero tolerance for corruption. Out of 10, nine officials were working at director level and one as joint secretary,” the source said.
The move comes a day before the ‘Good Governance Day’ celebrated by the government every year.
In September, a senior BSNL official who was caught napping in Vaishnaw’s meeting after the cabinet cleared a Rs 1.6 lakh-crore package for the public sector enterprise was given voluntary retirement from service.
In railways, Vaishnaw had approved forced retirement for about 40 officials for non-performance and doubtful integrity; among them was a secretary level officer and two special secretary level officers. Earlier this year, the government had told Parliament that between July 2014 and June 2022, the provision had been invoked against 395 officials across government departments and ministries. This included 203 Group A officers and 192 from Group B.
The revenue department was among the first to use the clause to compulsorily retire officials whose track record was not clean. Subsequently, other departments, including railways, have used the provision to deal with deadwood.
The Centre has maintained that the government has the absolute right to retire officials prematurely on the ground of lack of integrity and ineffectiveness, in public interest.
The provision can be used against group A and B officers who have turned 50 and had entered the service before 35 years.



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