17 officers, including 13 from different Ministries / Departments and 4 from autonomous organizations / PSUs, were terminated within two months during April-May 2019. Disclosing this here today through a reply in the Rajya Sabha, Minister-In-Charge DoPT (Department of Personnel & Training) Dr Jitendra Singh stated that under the Rule FR 56(j), of the 17 such officers sent on premature retirement or terminated, 2 belong to the Department of Commerce, 9 to the Department of Expenditure, 2 to the Ministry of Defence, Department of Comptroller General of Defence Accounts, 4 to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs in Building Material and Technology Promotion Council. As per the reply, the procedure followed in carrying out these terminations was based on the policy of periodic review and premature retirement of government servants, which is a continuous process. The factors taken into consideration include integrity, performance, delivery, etc. of the officer. In response to the query whether there were any guidelines laid down against corrupt and non-performing employees, the reply by Minister in-charge DoPT stated that it has been reiterated from time to time and very recently also in an OM dated 20th June 2019 to ensure that the prescribed procedure like forming of opinion to retire a government officer / employee prematurely in public interest is strictly adhered to, and the decision is not an arbitrary one, and is not based on collateral grounds. Pertinent to mention that carrying forward the policy of “zero tolerance towards corruption” and “maximum governance, minimum government”, the Modi Government, soon after beginning its second term, took the decision to carry out termination of certain officials who were either found corrupt or non-performing.
