No prior notice, IEO consultants given pink slips

Axed employees of Independent Evaluation Office might approach court

As fallout of the winding-up of the Planning Commission's Independent Evaluation Office (IEO), the government has terminated the services of 12 consultants, senior consultants and young professionals employed in it, with effect from August 31.

The services were terminated after paying them one month's salary in lieu of the notice period. The services of two consultants of the total 14-member staff have been retained but with a rider that they could also be terminated without any prior notice.

Some of the sacked employees tried to meet the Planning Commission secretary, but were asked to wait till Monday. Annoyed by the lackadaisical attitude of their employer, a source close to the development said, most of them are contemplating legal recourse, as the termination was ex post facto.

Earlier, the government had discontinued the services of the director-general of IEO, Ajay Chibber. Officials said the termination order came on September 10 but was effective from August 31.

The move is part of the government's endeavour to restructure the Planning Commission by closing down its attached offices, except the Unique Identification Authority of India.

The director-general's post at Institute of Applied Manpower Research is being managed by an acting DG after the retirement of Suresh Mehrotra in August. The future of the third attached office of the Commission, the Rainfed Authority of India, is unclear.

Officials in the know said as part of the re-organisation exercise being carried out in the Commission, a move is afoot to strengthen the Programme Evaluation Office (PEO) with new mandate and powers and also more jurisdictions.

PEO is likely to have a wider role in the new body that is expected to replace the Commission. "The Cabinet note on the shape of the new body envisages a wider role for the PEO," a senior official said.

The PEO has a three-tier structure, comprising the headquarters that is in the Planning Commission, seven Regional Evaluation Offices at Kolkata, Chandigarh, Chennai, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Lucknow and Mumbai, and eight Project Evaluation Offices at Guwahati, Bhubaneswar, Shimla, Bangalore, Bhopal, Patna, Thiruvananthapuram and Ahmedabad.

It was established in 1952 as an independent organisation under the Commission with a specific task of evaluating the community development programmes and other Intensive Area Development Schemes.

The office of IEO is a more recent addition and was created in November 2010 by the previous United Progressive Alliance government, as an attached office of the Commission.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his maiden Independence Day speech, had announced abolition of the Commission and replacing it with a new body.

Subsequently, on open forum was created on the website mygov.nic.in for inviting suggestions on the new institution.

The government also held a high-level consultative meeting to frame the shape of the new body to replace the Plan panel.
SHOWN THE DOOR

• 12 consultants and professional employed in IEO sacked
• The sacking part of the process to wind up IEO
• Sacked employees to take legal route to register their grievance
• PEO expected to get more powers in the new body that will replace Planning Commission
• IEO had recommended replacing the Plan panel with a new body