Punjab govt warns against de-reserving of SC/BC posts

Punjab Government has issued directives against de-reserving posts of reserved categories without getting prior approval from the Welfare Department's Reservation Cell.
The communique despatched to all Heads of Departments, Divisional Commissioners, Deputy Commissioners, Registrar of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, all Sessions Judges and Sub-Divisional Magistrates clarified that the filling of vacant posts of reserved categories from other categories without approval would lead to strict disciplinary action, an official spokesman said here today.
The letter confirmed that if the posts reserved for SCs/BCs were lying vacant due to non-availability of qualified SC/BC category candidates then the posts could not be de-reserved without getting prior approval from the Reservation Cell, he said.

"If there is non-availability of eligible candidates from reserved categories then the department concerned will send a detailed dossiers of proposed conversion of posts explaining that why these posts cannot be filled from the reserved categories," he said.
He said that the department would also have to explain the efforts done for filling these posts from the reserved categories. The spokesman said it has been observed that some departments were violating the reservation laws and taking decisions in this regard at their own level without getting permission from the Reservation Cell.
He said the state government has taken a serious note in this regard as it affects the interests of Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes. The spokesman said there were provisions to initiate strict actions against erring Officers/Employees, who were not implementing Reservation Policy in true spirit.

He clarified that no ex-post facto sanction or approval would be given to any department after filling of post without obtaining mandatory approval from the authorities concerned and strict action would be initiated in such cases.