UP govt to form panel of retired officials for time-bound probes against IAS officers

A panel comprising the Chief Secretary, the Agriculture Production Commissioner and the Additional Chief Secretary (Appointment Department) will scrutinise the applications and recommend the names of suitable candidates for the job.

The retired IAS officers on the panel will be assigned the cases of departmental inquiries against serving IAS officers with each bound to complete the inquiry within 180 days. As of now, serving IAS officers conduct the departmental inquiries against other officers of all positions.

Often it become difficult to find a serving IAS officer, senior to the officer facing the inquiry. If such a senior officer is found, they used to be busy in works of their respective departments, a government functionary said. But in the new arrangement, the panel of retired IAS officers will conduct probes against serving officers, including principal secretaries, additional chief secretaries and the chief secretary.

“Earlier, only serving IAS officers conducted the departmental inquiries against other IAS officers. But there were certain difficulties. Other senior serving officers remain busy in their own departmental works. That delays the completion of inquiry. The panel will have retired IAS officers who have been impartial and clean in their service,” said Dr Devesh Chaturvedi, additional chief secretary, department of appointment and personnel.

Chaturvedi added that same arrangement was in the Department of Personnel and Training, Government of India and UP has followed the same.

The retired officers who will be taken in the panel would be of UP cadre and will not be below the rank of secretary. The tenure of the panel will be three years but an arrangement will be made to ensure that at least one inquiry panel remains available all the time. For selecting the probe officers, the government has set a criteria that an officer during his entire service period was not penalised in any disciplinary or criminal matter.