Tenure of employees on deputation with Chandigarh fixed

The UT administration has fixed the tenure of the employees on deputation. According to a notification issued on the deputation policy today, the administration has fixed the tenure of employees deputed in Chandigarh for a maximum of seven years.

The policy will primarily affect nearly 1,500 employees of Group A, B, and C from Punjab and Haryana working on deputation in education, health and engineering departments in Chandigarh.

As per the notification, the period of deputation or foreign service shall be as per the provisions of the Recruitment Rules (RR) of the ex-cadre post or five years in cases where no tenure regulations exist for the ex-cadre post. No further extension beyond seven years shall be granted. Repatriation shall be planned accordingly on a First-In-First-Out basis, the notification stated.

The deputation policy has been framed in line with the central service rules implemented in Chandigarh, effective from April 1, 2022, which stipulate a maximum seven-year deputation period for employees in the union territory.

Criticising the policy, Ranbir Jhorar, president, Punjab and Haryana Employees Welfare Association (Deputationist), said the standard terms and condition of the government employees on deputation with the UT administration were vague, impractical and against the statutory rules of the Punjab Government relating to the employees being sent on deputation to the UT administration. “There is no clarity as to how the exempted category of cases of employees will be covered and which are the categories covered by these provisions,” he said, adding that it would lead to chaos.