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| Transfer officers out of their home districts in accordance to EC guidelines | | Govt in slumber .....? | | Bashir Assad
Jammu, Dec 26: With the general Lok Sabha elections round the corner, the Jammu and Kashmir Government seems to be in slumber as regards to the transfer of Government officers out of their home districts or places where they have served for long time in accordance to the Election Commission of India guidelines which provide that no officer connected with elections, directly or indirectly, should be allowed to continue in the present district of posting.
Pertinently the Commission has, in the past, issued various instructions on transfer/posting of officers for conduct of free and fair elections. These instructions have now been consolidated which provide that officers, who are connected with the conduct of elections in the States, do not serve in their home districts (a) If she/he is posted in her/his home district. (b) If she/he has completed three years in that district during last four years.
These instructions will not only cover officers appointed for specific election duties like District Election Officers, Returning Officers and Assistant Returning Officers but also other district level officers like Additional District Magistrates, Deputy Collectors, Sub-Divisional Magistrates, Tehsildars and Block Development Officers.
As far as officers in the Police Department are concerned, these instructions shall be applicable to range IGs, DIGs, SSPs, SPs and Sub-Divisional Heads of Police, Inspectors, Sub-Inspectors, Sergeant Majors or equivalent who are responsible for deployment of force in the district at election time.
(iii) The Commission has desired that a detailed review may, therefore, be undertaken before every election in all districts and all such officers should be posted out of their home districts or districts where they have completed a tenure of three years out of last four years. While moving officers, who have completed three years in a district out of last four years, care should be taken so that they are not posted to their home districts.
While calculating the period of three years, promotion to a post within the district is to be counted. While carrying out this review it must be borne in mind that these instructions do not apply to officers posted at the State headquarters.
Even through a cursory look, one could find that there are hundreds of such officers at all levels in the district administration including the Deputy Commissioners who are posted in their home districts and have been serving there for many years. And more important is the point that all such officers are involved in specific election duties.
Though the revised guidelines of the Election Commission of India provide that Commission's policy regarding the transfer of officers may be implemented prior to the formal announcement of the elections in order to ensure that the State Governments take necessary steps to transfer the officers/officials falling in the categories specified above early, the Jammu and Kashmir Government has not even prepared a blue print for the large scale transfer of the officers. The idea was that if steps are taken immediately then large-scale dislocation of officers after the announcement of election shall not be necessary.
Then there is even more fundamental question which was today raised by the senior legislator, M Y Tarigami during an informal interaction with this correspondent. Tarigami pointed out that since each Lok Sabha constituency comprises on several districts, the question according to him is that the officers posted in home constituencies should be posted out.
"If you would transfer an officers, lets say a Deputy Commissioner from his home district but place him within the same constituency in another district, it will not make much difference," said Tarigami. "The EC guidelines are probably silent on this issue, but it shall be obligatory that the officers are posted out of their home constituencies," observed Tarigami.
Tarigami also said that EC guidelines provide that no officer / official against whom a criminal case is pending in any court of law, be associated with the election work or electionrelated duty, however, it remains to be seen how the guidelines are implemented. |
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