Shimla: The Sukhvinder Sukhu led Congress government in Himachal Pradesh has issued instructions to all the Administrative Secretaries to issue fresh orders to abolish posts lying vacant in the respective departments for the last two years.
While the Himachal Pradesh Finance Department has termed the move as part of “expenditure control” of the government, the opposition BJP has targeted the Sukhu led government over the move calling it “system collapse of Congress government”.
The Himachal Pradesh Finance Department Order
The notification issued on October 23 by the Principal Secretary Finance, Devesh Kumar under the subject 'Continuation of temporary Post(s) - Latest Instruction(s) thereof', asked all the Administrative Secretaries to issue fresh orders to abolish all the posts lying vacant in the respective departments for the last two years.
“In addition, deletion of such abolished posts be also ensured from the Budget Book of the said Department within a week's time after their abolition positively by the Administrative Department(s) itself without any excuse,” the Finance Department notification reads.
No Proposal To Fill Posts To Be Moved To Finance Dept
The Finance Department notification asked the Administrative Secretaries to ensure that no proposal(s) for filling up of post(s) lying vacant for the last 02 more year(s) in any of the Department(s)/organization(s) working under their control be moved to the Finance Department.
“You are, therefore, requested to kindly ensure strict compliance of the aforesaid instruction(s) positively failing which entire responsibility will rest upon the Department/organization itself,” it added.
Himachal BJP Attacks Sukhu Govt Over Move
The Himachal Pradesh BJP has attacked the Sukhvinder Sukhu led Congress government over the Finance Department instructions asking the department heads to issue immediate orders to abolish the posts lying vacant in the respective departments for the last two years.
कांग्रेस सरकार का ‘‘व्यवस्था पतन’’ pic.twitter.com/OygihK57aq
— BJP Himachal Pradesh (@BJP4Himachal) October 26, 2024
“System collapse of Congress government”, the Himachal BJP captioned a poster on its official X handle.
CM Sukhu Hits Back
Hitting back at the BJP over the matter, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said that the notification was misconstrued on social media adding "little knowledge is dangerous for the society".
भाजपा का झूठ पूरी तरह उजागर हो चुका है। जनता ने इस फ़्रैंचाइज़ी पर ताला लगा दिया है।
— Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu (@SukhuSukhvinder) October 26, 2024
युवा जानते हैं कि हमारी सरकार लगातार युवाओं को रोजगार के लिए प्रतिबद्ध है। हमने तो कोर्ट तक में युवाओं के हितों की लड़ाई लड़ी है।
हमारी पूरी कोशिश हिमाचल के युवाओं को रोजगार प्रदान करने और… pic.twitter.com/jKinrNTrCY
Sukhu clarified that the government does not intend to indiscriminately freeze all posts. “We are prioritizing filling essential and functional positions while phasing out posts that have been left vacant and are no longer relevant to current departmental needs,” he added.
Is It The First Notification?
While the Himachal BJP seeks to corner the Sukhu led government over the Finance Department order, the original instructions over the expenditure control were ironically issued by the then BJP government in August, 2012 under the Prem Kumar Dhumal led BJP government through the Finance Department. Dhumal was sworn in as the Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister on Dec 30, 2007 and remained at the post till 25 Dec, 2012 in his second and last term.
2012 Notification
The notification issued by the Himachal Pradesh Finance Department under the then Prem Kumar Dhumal led BJP government on August 14, 2012, had said that the issue of yearly continuation of temporary post(s) of various kind(s) "has been engaging the attention of the government from sometime past.
Normally, all such posts are being continued in the different Government Department(s) in a mechanical way resulting in no fruitful gain; rather it leads to just wastage of time & energy of the Government at different levels," the 2012 notification had stated.
Thus, with a view to curb this, routine practice and in order to bring in functional ef'fic!ency, it has .now been decided that:
- a) All the filledup temporary posts of permanent nature [except those on daily wage, part time, contractual or anyone appointed under any specific policy of the Government has been working presently] which have been in existence for the last five years continuously and their services are still essential for the respective Department(s) will be converted into permanent with immediate effect. The concerned Administrative Departments will issue the formal orders in this regard at their own level after ensuring the above conditions and shall intimate the same to the Finance Department.
- b) All the temporary posts which have been lying vacant for the last two years shall henceforth be deemed to have been abolished. All the concerned Administrative Departments shall issue formal orders to this effect at their own level, and shall furnish the complete details of such posts along with formal orders of abolition of posts to Finance Department; However, if any of them is required in future in any of the Government Departments, a complete proposal along-with administrative justification for revival/creation for the same may be sent to the Finance Department through usual mechanism.
The Para - 1(b) of the Department's instruction of even number dated 14' August, 2012, which the latest Finance Department order has cited clearly state that all the vacant post(s) [irrespective of their temporary or permanent nature], which have been lying vacant for the last two or more year(s) in any Department/PSU shall henceforth be deemed to have been abolished and all the concerned Administrative Department(s) shall issue formal orders to this effect at their own level, and shall furnish the complete detail(s) of such posts along-with formal orders of abolition of post(s) to Finance Department on regular basis.
“But it has been observed that none of the Department has either done so or supplied the requisite data on this account to the Finance Department as of now. Thus, it has been viewed seriously by the Government and after due consideration, it has now been decided that all the vacant posts lying so for the last 02 or more years [irrespective of their temporary or permanent nature], shall deem to have been abolished forthwith and a formal order be passed/issued in this regard at the earliest,”the Finance Department order reads.
Abolish Posts From Budget Book
The latest instructions by the Finance Department directed that the deletion of such abolished posts be also ensured from the Budget Book of the said Department within a week's time after their abolition by the Administrative Department(s) itself without any excuse.
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