Opinion Anxiety over accountability

At the end of three years,a candidate will have to pass yet another exam to get a permanent employee status.

Subrata Nagchoudhury

March 20, 2013 01:38 AM IST First published on: Mar 20, 2013 at 01:38 AM IST

A recent move by Mamata Banerjee concerning West Bengal government employees has generated a fair amount of controversy,with many equating it with a perform-or-perish policy in the government sector.

A March 1 government order makes it mandatory for Group C employees to go through a three-year probation after being recruited. Under the new rule,candidates would also have to pass an exam every year for the three consecutive years. At the end of three years,a candidate will have to pass yet another exam to get a permanent employee status.

A candidate will only get half the salary during probation and it can be extended by one year. And finally,they can be discharged from service if not found eligible.

The ruling party has defended the move saying it will make government employees more accountable. But there are dissenting voices among employees affiliated to the Left and churn within TMC-backed unions as well. The problem with the latter,however,is that there are too many parallel bodies and Banerjees bid to bring them under one umbrella has not been successful.

In fact,this could well be one reason the government is switching to a hire-and-fire policy which can be controlled by handpicked departmental heads without the party having to depend on disparate union leaders.

While accountability in the government sector is welcome,it is not clear why this is restricted to only Group C employees,who constitute a large but not the entire spectrum of government workers.

Questions are also being asked about holding more exams for candidates who have already passed state public service commission or staff selection commission tests,and about the fairness of departmental examinations.

Many would like to believe the move may not be isolated from an attempt to hold sway over thousands of government employees through departmental heads who could be handpicked by the government and remote-controlled.

The fear now is that the new law could be challenged in court. An earlier move by Banerjee to disband associations in the police met judicial hurdles. The court declared the move as one in violation of constitutional provisions and against natural justice.

Subrata is Editor,Kolkata

subrata.nagchoudhury@expressindia.com

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