Clarification on abolition of posts lying vacant for more than five years: Finance Ministry to Confederation

No.772655/E.Coord.I/18

Government of India

Ministry of Finance

Department of Expenditure

North Block. New Delhi

Dated 23rd May, 2018

To
Shri M. Krishnan, General Secretary & Member
Standing Committee National Council, JCM
1st Floor, North Avenue,'Po‘Building, New Delhi-110001

Sub: Forwarding of Representation/Petition-regarding abolition of posts lying vacant for more than five years.

Sir,

I am directed to refer to your representation dated 26th March, 2018 addressed to Hon’ble Prime Minister and a similar reference separately addressed to Hon’ble Finance Minister on the above mentioned subject.

2. The matter has been examined keeping in mind the submissions made by you in respect of this Department’s O.M. dated 16.01.2018. It appears that the above issue has been raised in view of this Department’s instructions dated 12.04.2017. This Department had issued compendium of instructions with the approval of Competent Authority in supersession of all previous instructions/orders regarding creation, continuation, transfer and revival of posts. In this regard, it is seen that while issuing the compendium of instructions, some changes in the timelines have been made to ease and speed up the procedure for revival of posts under “deemed-abolished category". The changes made in the recent order is tabulated below:

Sl. No.	Prior to 12.04.2017 Order	After 12.04.2017 Order
1	The period of live post lying vacant had been one year since its creation.	Now, the post would fall under deemed-abolished category after a period of two years. The newly created posts, which do not have RRs would fall under the category of ‘deemed-abolished" after a period of 3 years.
2	Physical files were received for creation/ continuation/ revival/ transfer of posts.	Now, the procedure for revival/continuation of posts under deemed-abolition has been made through e-office cutting down the processing time.
3	The guidelines/instructions for creation/ revival/ continuation/ transfer of posts were in a scattered manner.	A compendium of instructions has been issued to deal with the creation/ revival/ continuation/ transfer of posts.
4	This Department had been receiving proposals for the posts which have been lying vacant even for more than 20-30 years.	Due to this inordinate delay, this Department has issued order for revival of posts with stipulated conditions. The posts can be got revived from Department of Expenditure subject to fulfilling of stipulated conditions.

3. In view of the above, it is felt that this Department vide its consolidated instructions/guidelines dated 12.04.2017 had directed all the Ministries/Departments to abolish all the posts which are lying vacant for more than five years. Since most of the instructions were issued long time back and in a scattered manner, it became imperative for this Department to issue a compendium of instructions covering all the aspects relating to creation/revival/continuation/transfer of posts. It is seen that while issuing the instructions, this Department has also increased the period of live posts from one year to two/three years and, now, the post would fall under deemed-abolished category after a period of two years. The newly created posts, which do not have RRs would fall under the category of ‘deemed-abolished’ after a period of 3 years. These posts can be got revived subject to fulfilment of stipulated conditions. This Department has also cutting down the processing time by directing all the Ministries/Departments to submit their proposal in e-office mode. In addition, if a post, which had been lying vacant for more than five years and could not be agreed for revival by this Department, but is considered to be essential for smooth functioning by AM for which sincere efforts were made to fill it up by AM, a fresh proposal for creation of post containing full functional justification with the concurrence of the competent authority may be referred to this  Department.

5. I hope the above clarifies the position in the matter.

Yours faithfully,

Sd/-

(Sobeer Singh)

Under Secretary to the Govt. of India

Source: Confederation