Employees' body opposes UP govt move to retire non-performing babus

Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh State Employees Joint Council will meet the state's chief secretary to oppose the government's decision to review the performance of its employees who are aged above 50 and retire those not up to the mark. "Government employees are feeling cheated and let down by this controversial order issued by the state government. We are planning to meet Chief Secretary Rajive Kumar on Monday to put forward our views," council general secretary Shivbaran Singh Yadav told PTI. He said the move might affect a large number of state government employees. "It will boost nepotism as officials and politicians may try to take advantage out of it by pushing their relatives into various departments." According to an order issued by the chief secretary, additional chief secretaries and secretaries of all departments have been asked to review the performance of the staff till July 31. The directive cites the finance handbook rules, which states that the appointing authority, at any given time, can retire the staff without giving any reason by a three months' notice and government orders issued in this connection from time to time. A government spokesperson said there was nothing new in the order as there was already a provision for reviewing the performance of all staff members who crossed 50 years. The three-month-old Adityanath government has dusted the service rulebook to weed out the under-performers under a provision first proposed in 1985 but rarely used. The spokesperson said some departments were not carrying out this exercise on a regular basis and the order was aimed at ensuring it. The department heads have been asked to give to the personnel department a list of those who are to be given compulsory retirement, he said.