Ghost-busting MCD blames sanitation dept

And this is not a one-off case in the MCD,as a report submitted by the Corporation to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has revealed. Facing the heat from the Delhi High Court and the MHA over the presence of 22,583 “ghost employees” in the civic agency,the MCD has finally admitted to a scam which has been running for years due to what it called a “collusion between the employees union that is affiliated to various political groups and some junior officers of the MCD”. Ramchandri is one example the agency cited in its report.

The seven-page internal inquiry report,scheduled to come up before the High Court on Wednesday,opened a can of worms inside the civic agency that takes care of 90 per cent of Delhi ‘s area. The main points:

DUCKING ATTENDANCE
MCD claimed the gap of 22,583 employees is mainly because 14,500 employees deliberately hoodwinked the biometric attendance system. Some are still trying to disrupt the machines,it said.

Holding the Department of Environment Management Services — the sanitation department — responsible for hiring persons and converting them into daily wagers without following right procedure and approval of the authorities,the MCD contended that 19,162 such persons were working in the department. “In fact,the sanction of bills and release of payments is based on the numbers and not on the details of the employees as they keep on changing at the discretion of the lower supervisory officers,like the Sanitary Inspector,” the report stated.

MYSTERY SUBSTITUTEs
The substitute employees,according to the MCD counsel’s submission in the court,could not be accounted for in the biometric attendance system as their data was not fed. Substitute employees are the persons “temporarily” hired by the area Assistant Sanitary Inspector for days or weeks when a Safai Karamchari is on leave.

The real story of empanelment of substitute employees,however,is intriguing. The 12 MCD Zones have no records pertaining to substitute Safai Karamcharis prior to 1993,which means those employed before the said year would have no antecedents or details to be verified even when wished for. “Reportedly this has been done at the discretion of the field Sanitary Guides or Assistant Sanitary Inspectors,” the report claimed.

“The officials of the Sanitation department,in collusion with the Karamchari unions and through pressure tactics have been successful in continuing a number of persons on the panels of substitute Safai Karamcharis,” it read.

The report also accepts that some of these employees are minors,making it unlawful for the agency to hire them against the recruitment regulations.

The report claimed the agency’s temporary squad had gradually become a permanent strength “without any visible gain”. As per its own policy,number of empanelled substitute employees should not exceed 10 per cent of the total strength. In reality,while there could only be 3,575 substitute employees,there are 43,415 employees on the panel,which is over 12 times more than the required strength.

The matter comes up for hearing before a Division Bench headed by acting Chief Justice Madan B Lokur on Wednesday.

How they did it
PERMANENT in a DAY
While their own regulation may clamour that it was imperative for a person to work continuously for at least 240 days in a year for regularisation,the truth behind regularisation of thousands of employees in the MCD is far-off the rule.

According to the report,the Sanitation department devised a “unique” procedure,as per which a substitute Safai Karamchari was converted into a daily wager irrespective of the number of days he/she worked for in a year.

“Therefore,a person even if he/she has worked for a day in year gets converted into a daily wager thereby attaining the consequential right for regularisation in regular grade of pay as per the Corporation’s regularisation policy. Such a practice is contrary to established principles of equity and fair play,” the report stated.

REGULARs SENT ON LEAVE
Burdening the Corporation with more and more number of employees,according to its own report,is very simple given the fact that there is no effective supervision and monitoring. The field supervisory staffs keep several temporary employees waiting with the promise to “adjust” them sooner or later irrespective of the fact whether there are sanctioned posts or not.

“The practice is so lucrative that the regular employees are sent on leave to make way for so many of the substitutes whereby ensuring they are not removed. The esoteric procedure of granting regular status via substitution could be viewed as an act of mollycoddling a section of staff thereby splurging public funds with no apparent benefits to the public at large,” the report stated.

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