DoP scrutiny team submits report on regularization of temp employees at Power Deptt

DISCREPANCIES FOUND IN DOCUMENTATION OF AROUND 400 OF 1,400 ORIGINALLY CLEARED FOR REGULARISATION, SAYS DoP

RANJIT SINGH
GANGTOK, 11 Aug: Muster Roll and Work Charged employees of the Power Department who had been recently regularized may be in for a long haul before their salaries, pending since March 2014, are finally disbursed. This would particularly hold true for those MR/WC employees of the department whose documentation screening process have thrown up ‘discrepancies’ as officials at the Department of Personnel put it.
The report of the committee sent by the Department of Personnel to the Power Department has highlighted discrepancies in the documents of several MR & WC employees which include non possession of Certificates of Identification and discrepancies in dates of birth and dates of appointment to service etc.
The four-member committee of the Department of Personnel deputed to the Power Department for screening of the documents of the ‘regularized’ muster roll and work charged employees who have completed 15 years of service has completed its task and a report on the findings has been compiled. Officials inform that the report was put up to the Chief Secretary who has noted her observations for further action.
The report, officials inform, has observed discrepancies in the documentation concerning the appointment process of approximately 400 MR/WC employees who had been listed for regularization and had been regularized as per the decision and notification of the government a few months ago.
On the other hand the screening process also found approximately 1,050 MR & WC employees who had their documentation in order – that is to say, their papers were found to be genuine and eligible for regularization. Approximately 1,450 employees who had completed 15 years of service had been notified for regularization, all belonging to the Power Department.
Secretary, DoP, AK Chettri informed that it was now for the concerned department to act on the observations particularly regarding the ‘discrepancies’ found  in the documents  of the concerned employees. This could mean a further screening process by the concerned department if they are to be considered for regularization.
It is informed that ‘discrepancies’ in the documents of approximately 400 MR & WC employees observed from the report of the committee includes discrepancies in such things as date of birth recorded, date of appointment in service - as they were supposedly underage at the time - and non possession of domicile documents. It is informed that Rule 4 (4) of the Service Rules which puts emphasis on local employment cannot be overlooked and has to be considered in this process as well.
Despite the submission of the report and the observations, the employees [even those without any question marks on their eligibility for regularization] are still to be paid their due salaries. Secretary DoP informed that his department would now move the file for salary disbursement for the MR/WC employees who have been screened. There is no definite time frame given as to by when this process will be completed. However for those whose screening has resulted in questions about their appointment and other documents it may take longer. A group of the MR/WC employees had also gone to meet with the Chief Minister today to pursue their case. However it is informed that the group could not meet with the CM.