Babus beware! Over-stay on deputation to attract pay cut

Taking a stern view of officers overstaying on deputation, the government has decided to bar such defaulters from future postings and impose pay cut.

"Any over-stay beyond approved period of inter cadre deputation without prior approval of the government of India shall lead to an adverse impact on the prospect of the officer at the time of the empanelment," said an official memorandum issued by Ministry of Personnel.

A copy of the order was also sent to the "Account General concerned with a request to stop payment of salary to the officer beyond approved period of deputation".

Inter-cadre deputation shall be valid only for the period for which it is approved by the central government.

All inter-cadre deputation orders shall indicate the period (and dates in extension cases) in the body of the order itself, it said.

"Any extension in inter cadre deputation period shall neither be automatic nor should be presumed merely on the ground that the state government concerned or officer or both had made a request to central government for extension.

"In case, no specific approval of the central government for extension is received within the period for which deputation was originally valid, the officer shall have to be relieved positively and immediately on completion of the original tenure," the order said.

An officer immediately after expiry of approved deputation period shall have to relinquish charge and shall get himself or herself relieved without waiting for formal rejection letter from central government, it said.

An 'Alert' in respect of those officers who are going to complete their inter cadre deputation, will prominently be flashed on the website of Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), 45 days prior to expiry of the deputation period so as to sound the officer and the state governments concerned.

"Based on 'Alerts', auto-generated periodic emails will also be sent to the officer or state governments concerned reminding them for relinquishing the charge or relieving the officer on stipulated date," said the order which was also sent to all chief secretaries of state governments.

The move came following a report by a Parliamentary Committee which has asked the government to deal with a "strong hand" cases of officers overstaying the deputation period.