‘ Transfer policy affecting morale of cadre officers’

◗ The Indian Information Service Association also requested that ‘ all transfers effected may be duly reconsidered and further transfers be stopped’

In a tacit criticism of information and broadcasting minister Smriti Irani, the Indian Information Service Association has in a letter to the PMO maintained that the “morale of the cadre officers was being affected due to the current transfer policy of the ministry”.

It also requested that “all transfers effected may be duly reconsidered and further transfers be stopped”.

The letter goes on to state that the “current approach amounts to wastage of public funds, wherein the media units in Delhi are crippled due to shortage of manpower while on the other hand, senior officers are unable to delvier professionally due to lack of infrastructure”.

Sources stated that the IIS Association has pointed out that in the last two months, the I& B ministry has issued a number of transfer orders, affecting one- fourth ( around 140 officers out of less than 500 Group A Officers) of the IIS Cadre.

“It may be mentioned that officers have been posted in Tier- II and III cities ( Agra, Moradabad, Shimoga) without first creating proper infrastructure. Even officers of DG/ ADG level have been posted to such cities where there is hardly any office space and associated infrastructure,” added the letter by Anindya Sengupta, president, IIS Group A Officers’ Association.

The association acknowledges the government’s prerogative to deploy the officers as per its requirements and also its identified thrust areas. However, the association wishes to highlight the fact that mass transfers in the recent orders have not been in compliance with the established norms.

The association also criticised the ministry’s interferance in allocating portfolios even up to asst director- level officers in PIB which has always been the prerogative of the head of the department.

“This has seriously undermined the existing chain of command in the organisation. It is difficult to understand how organisational alignment and coherence could be maintained under such circumstances,” it added.

The association letter also claimed that DoPT sought a revised comprehensive cadre review proposal from the ministry by March 2017, but no such proposal has been submitted even nearly after a year.