By Rabindra Nath Sinha
KOLKATA: Political observers, bureaucrats – retired and serving – and employees’ unions in Manipur are intrigued at the prolonged indecision on the part of the Union government on the issue of appointment of advisors to aid and assist the Governor who is in command of the administration since February 13 when President’s rule was imposed on the state. Thus, almost 10 weeks have passed but there is no word yet on posting advisors.
Sources IPA talked to point out that the net result is Governor Ajay Bhalla and chief secretary Prashant Singh are under tremendous pressure in a state that witnessed ethnic strife for a long time since May 3, 2023 and normal governance took a back seat as the administration had to divert its attention to coping with security issues of serious proportions and relief for thousands of people who fled their residences. The security aspect became more complicated as in addition to re-establishing rule of law, recovery of looted arms and ammunitions posed serious challenges. The bureaucracy is demoralised and employees have long-pending grievances regarding career progression and pensioners have to bear with backlog of payments.
Appointment of advisors in states under President’s rule, recall civil servants, was always given priority by the powers-that-be in New Delhi as with their high ranks and adequate authority they would, under the rules of business and delegated powers, pass orders for immediate execution at the department level and thereby would lessen the administrative burden on the Governor and chief secretary.
From their experience of the past 10 weeks, civil servants and employees unions, they say they find many loose ends still to be tied. Representations submitted to Governor and chief secretary by various organizations lie unattended for days and it is very difficult to gets appointments from them [A saving grace of the situation is that chief secretary Prashant Singh belongs to Manipur cadres of IAS and Governor .Ajay Bhalla, whose immediate appointment was as Union home secretary and he had an almost six-year tenure, belongs to Assam-Meghalaya cadre of IAS. Both of them are thus familiar with intricacies of governance in north-eastern states].
In the first week of this month, Manipur Government Services Federation (MGSF) and Manipur State Pensioners’ Union (MSPU) submitted a joint memorandum listing 16 demands to Governor and chief secretary and the two outfits stressed that “the memorandum is a final call for the government to act in the interest of employees and pensioners and warned that failure to act would only deepen the crisis in public administration”. MGSF is affiliated to All-India State Government Services Federation.
In an interview to IPA, MGSF president Laishram Sharat said although in the crisis period the state has been witnessing very high inflation rates yet the state government employees had to make do with 21 per cent less dearness allowance when compared to 53 per cent DA for Union government employees. Only recently the state government has allowed an increase of seven per cent, reducing the gap to 14 per cent. The sufferings of thousands of pensioners accentuated as pension payments have been highly irregular and appeals to the authorities to clear backlog have not been evoking any administrative response. The memorandum has demand backlog clearance within a definite timeframe.
The memorandum has voiced its objection to the national pension scheme as also the Centre’s recent unified pension scheme. It has also sought a uniform pension system for employees of PSUs, corporation and local bodies. Yet another related demand is for equal pension for all doctors and those in veterinary discipline who retired between January 1, 2016 and March 31, 2020 when their non-practising allowance was withdrawn.
There is also a huge backlog of promotions and Modified Assured Career Progression (MACP) scheme benefits in various departments. “In a state where departments are bottom heavy, MACP is the only hope for career progression”. Improvement in service delivery will be a far cry if anomalies are not rectified and fair treatment ensured. In the intervening long period of violence and a disrupted administrative machinery, service delivery by government departments has been the worst casualty, MGSF and MSPU president observed.
The other key demands made in the memorandum are: Early establishment of a police recruitment board to ensure transparency and accountability, considering the fact that the police establishment is the largest organization in Manipur; Reactivation and normal functioning of Manipur Public Service Commission and Staff Selection Commission; An immediate end to contract appointments against regular posts and regularisation of all contractual appointments by following procedures laid down; and Enhancement of the retirement age to 62 years from existing 60 years, taking into account the state’s financial crisis, rise in life expectancy, backlog in recruitment and global trends .
A good number of cases pending in the high court are service-related and it is high time a compendium of service rules is issued and those are enforced. Sharat rued violation in service rules, special in engineering departments where higher posts are filled on in-charge basis ignoring seniority. (IPA Service)
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