6 months on, Chandigarh Sports Department sans DSO

Deepankar Sharda

Chandigarh, June 10

For close to six months now, the UT Sports Department had failed to appoint a District Sports Officer (DSO) owing to unknown reasons. The post has been lying vacant since January 1, this year.

UT Sports Department coach Ravinder Singh (Laddi) retired from the post on November 30, 2020. Instead of filling the post on a regular basis, the department had appointed judo coach Krishan Lal to the post of the DSO on ‘additional charge’. Lal retired on December 31, 2021. The post has been lying vacant since then.

In the past, the authorities had alleged that no coach was eligible to be appointed to the post on a regular basis. However, it has not been cleared whether the coaches are not even eligible for holding the post under’ additional charge’ or not.

“If, in past, the coaches were given additional charge of the DSO, what is stopping the department from following the same pattern now? It’s been almost five months and there’s not even a single update on this. The same thing happened with the post of the Joint Director Sports (JDS), which was filled on a regular basis after being lying vacant for over a year. In previous years, it (JDS) was also looked after on the ‘additional charge’,” said an official, seeking anonymity.

Previous recommendations

In 2015, the then UT Adviser Vijay Dev, who was recently sworn in as new State Election Commissioner of Chandigarh) and Finance Secretary, who was also holding the charge of the Secretary Sports, had recommended that that process to fill any vacancy should start in advance. “…whenever any vacancy has to arise, action to fill the same be started in advance,” stated the noting. The recommendation came after it was reported that the post of the Joint Director Sports remained vacant for more than four months, at that time. Meanwhile, the post of the DSO is important for licensing during the championships, which the department is conducting after a gap of two years.

‘Look for makeshift arrangement’

Meanwhile, sources have claimed that the post of the DSO may be abolished after the implementation of the Central Services Rules. “However, till that time, the department should look for some makeshift arrangements. The announcement for the implementation of the Central Service Rules was made in March and the post is lying vacant since January. Since the rules have been notified, the department should start the process accordingly,” said the source.