PCS officers call off strike after talks, promise of SOP in corruption cases

The meeting went on till 2.30 pm, beyond the deadline given by Mann. After the meeting, Rajat Oberoi, president of PCS Officers Association, and Venu Prasad addressed the media.

Oberoi said they were calling off the protest for one week. They had demanded action should be taken against Vigilance officials responsible for arresting RTA Tarsem Chand, who was found not guilty after a special investigation team had investigated his case. The chief minister set up a committee to formulate an SOP in corruption cases so that innocent officers are not arrested and maligned.

Venu Prasad said the protest has been called off but the case registered would not be quashed. The PCS officers will go back to work after the meeting, he said. He said that the anti-corruption drive of the government would go on. “The CM has said very clearly that we will not protect the corrupt officers.”

He added that all the officers were working for the betterment of the state and even those agitating believed that the corrupt should not be protected.

In his orders to the chief secretary, the chief minister said, “It has been brought to my notice that some officers are not attending duty in the garb of some strike. They are protesting against strong action taken by the government against corrupt officers.“

The orders added, “Let this be very clear to everyone that this government has zero tolerance for corruption. Such a strike amounts to blackmailing and arm twisting. It cannot be tolerated by any responsible government. Therefore you are directed to declare this strike illegal, suspend all officers who do not join by 2 pm today and their period of absence should be treated as dies non.”

Later, the chief secretary passed orders asking the officials to return to work. The PCS officers had got support from staff of allied services, engineers and clerks. No work was being taken up in the disruption of offices for the past two days.