LACK OF STAFF TRANSFER POLICY A HURDLE AT SCB

The lack of an employee transfer policy at cantonment boards is proving to be a major hurdle in curbing corruption at the Secunderabad Cantonment Board, with experts pinning the blame on colonial laws and practises that hinder inter-state transfer of employees and allow them to stay in the same job for years.

The Cantonment Funds Service Rules (CSFR), 1937, provide an option for employee exchange between cantonments located under different Army commands. However, due to inconsistent rules and varied pay scales across cantonments, the transfers are not preferred.

“There are many big cantonments in the country, even within the Southern Command, where employees can be transferred if the board is willing,” said Secunderabad Cantonment Residents’ Welfare Association secretary Jitender Surana. “At a time when we are moving towards digitisation of services, nothing should stop employee transfers as it can be the first probable step towards eradicating corruption,” he added.

As the same set of employees prolong their stay, it is leading to misuse of power and paving the way for corruption. Barring the chief executive officer and a few senior officers from the Central cadre, most of the employees are not subject to transfers as the cantonment board is an autonomous body without a transfer policy.

Nominated member of SCB, J. Ramakrishna, opined that there is a need for transfer of at least the supervisory members, particularly in the engineering department. “Representations have been made at the Central level for bringing uniformity in the rules and pay scales to facilitate employee exchange,” he added.

According to the CSFR rules, in case efforts to make appointments through employee exchange fail to materialise, the board shall opt for recruitment of candidates to fill vacancies.