133 officers given premature retirement: Government

New Delhi: More than 130 officers have been given premature retirement in the past over two years, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said on Thursday.

In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, he said service records of 11,828 Group 'A' and 19,714 Group 'B' officers have been reviewed so far.

With a view to identify officials who may not be fit to be retained in the government service, instructions have been issued to all cadre-controlling authorities to review their performance or service records at all levels, he said.

Provisions of premature retirement was invoked or recommended against 30 Group 'A' and 103 Group B' officers, the minister said.

Of these, action was taken against 77 officers during 2015-16, 44 in 2016-17 and against 12 officers during 2017-18 (till May), said the Minister of State for Personnel.

"The monitoring mechanism for reviewing the performance in conformity with the rule provisions has been strengthened and speeded up by activating review committees and representation committees for various levels and their work is now closely monitored," Singh said.

Under this continuous process of review and monitoring, those who are found to be performing well are separated from the non-performers, who are then sought to be compulsorily retired, he said.

In reply to another question, he said four IAS and three IPS officers were dismissed from service in the past three years.

An IPS officer of the Gujarat cadre was removed on the charges that he "remained absent from duties, ignored government orders, misused government vehicles, did not return government items, (indulged in) insubordination, made false entries in the movement diary and created false report, etc", according to the reply.

Besides them, penalty of removal from service on charges of prolonged unauthorised absence from duty was imposed against one Indian Forest Service officer of the Kerala cadre, it said, without revealing the name of the officer.

The penalty of dismissal from service against one IPS officer of the Jammu and Kashmir cadre was imposed as he was convicted under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substance Act, 1985, the reply said.

Another IPS officer (the Tamil Nadu cadre) was dismissed from service on charges that he took private employment and suppressed this fact from the state government, it said.