Annulment of Public Servants (Retirement) Act '74 in the offing
Wednesday, 24 September 2008
Kayes M Sohel
The Regulatory Reforms Commission (RRC) has drafted a proposal for annulment of Public Servants (Retirement) Act, 1974 in order to bring transparency in the government's actions.
The Act in its section 9 (2) says the government may, if it considers necessary in the public interest to do so, retire from service a public servant at any time after he has completed twenty-five years of service without assigning any reason.
This is a draconian law as it contains lack of transparency in government action on public servants retirement process and there is enough scope in the Act for abusing power, said an RRC official.
In the proposal the RRC said that public servants are supposed to discharge their duties judiciously and independently. But because of the Act they cannot do so and often succumb to pressures from high-ups being scared of losing their jobs or sent to retirement. This practice leads to corruption and misuse of power.
Before taking any actions against any public servants, opportunities for defending themselves should be given, which is a constitutional right. But this is absent in the Act that undermines the fundamental rights of the servants also, the proposal said.
"Once the recommendation is implemented, public servants will be able to work without any fear and can take decisions without being biased. The scope for corruption will also reduce significantly," the RRC's chief executive officer (CEO) Apurba Kumar Biswas told the FE.
"The public servants may opt for retirement voluntarily after completion of 25 years in the public service but the government will have no right to force them into retirement after 25 years, which tantamount to violation of fundamental rights. They will retire from the service automatically after 57 years of public service," he added.
Considering these anomalies in the Act, the Public Servants (Retirement) Act, 1974 should be declared null and void, the CEO of RRC said.
The draft proposal also include modernisation of land management and registration.
The commission will place its recommendations to the chief adviser after ratification of the draft at its meeting scheduled for today (Wednesday).
"The affected people will not be required to wait year after year for settling their land disputes if the land registration system is computerised," said Apurba.
The RRC prepared the draft of land registration law at its February 2 meeting after an extensive study on the existing situation.
A sub committee was formed and the members visited India financed by IFC and made reports after observing successful implementation of the computerisation of land related data in India.
The people are being harassed under present land registration system and the government is being deprived from huge revenue earning for long due to corruption committed by some touts and businessmen in league with some dishonest government officials, the recommendation says.
The RRC was formed in October last year to overhaul the outmoded administrative rules and regulations with a specific focus on removing the bottlenecks that impedes growth in economic investment, commerce and trade.
Since its formation, the RRC made 38 recommendations out of which only eight have been implemented so far.
The Regulatory Reforms Commission (RRC) has drafted a proposal for annulment of Public Servants (Retirement) Act, 1974 in order to bring transparency in the government's actions.
The Act in its section 9 (2) says the government may, if it considers necessary in the public interest to do so, retire from service a public servant at any time after he has completed twenty-five years of service without assigning any reason.
This is a draconian law as it contains lack of transparency in government action on public servants retirement process and there is enough scope in the Act for abusing power, said an RRC official.
In the proposal the RRC said that public servants are supposed to discharge their duties judiciously and independently. But because of the Act they cannot do so and often succumb to pressures from high-ups being scared of losing their jobs or sent to retirement. This practice leads to corruption and misuse of power.
Before taking any actions against any public servants, opportunities for defending themselves should be given, which is a constitutional right. But this is absent in the Act that undermines the fundamental rights of the servants also, the proposal said.
"Once the recommendation is implemented, public servants will be able to work without any fear and can take decisions without being biased. The scope for corruption will also reduce significantly," the RRC's chief executive officer (CEO) Apurba Kumar Biswas told the FE.
"The public servants may opt for retirement voluntarily after completion of 25 years in the public service but the government will have no right to force them into retirement after 25 years, which tantamount to violation of fundamental rights. They will retire from the service automatically after 57 years of public service," he added.
Considering these anomalies in the Act, the Public Servants (Retirement) Act, 1974 should be declared null and void, the CEO of RRC said.
The draft proposal also include modernisation of land management and registration.
The commission will place its recommendations to the chief adviser after ratification of the draft at its meeting scheduled for today (Wednesday).
"The affected people will not be required to wait year after year for settling their land disputes if the land registration system is computerised," said Apurba.
The RRC prepared the draft of land registration law at its February 2 meeting after an extensive study on the existing situation.
A sub committee was formed and the members visited India financed by IFC and made reports after observing successful implementation of the computerisation of land related data in India.
The people are being harassed under present land registration system and the government is being deprived from huge revenue earning for long due to corruption committed by some touts and businessmen in league with some dishonest government officials, the recommendation says.
The RRC was formed in October last year to overhaul the outmoded administrative rules and regulations with a specific focus on removing the bottlenecks that impedes growth in economic investment, commerce and trade.
Since its formation, the RRC made 38 recommendations out of which only eight have been implemented so far.