Nearly a month after a controversy erupted over allegations of cash-for-transfers against some ministers and officials posted at the chief minister’s office (CMO), the state government Saturday announced that henceforth, CM Siddaramaiah’s approval will be mandatory to validate transfer of state government employees across all departments.
The circular issued by JD Madhuchandra Tejaswi, additional secretary in the department of personnel and administrative reforms, said that after the end of the general transfer period for 2023-24, approval of the CM will be necessary for the transfer of government personnel belonging to groups A, B, C and D. This effectively means all government employees.
In view of the latest order, all government departments must also seek permission from the CM for extension of the tenure of any employee in a department.
Heads of departments who fail to adhere to this rule will be held accountable and appropriate action will be taken against them. The move is significant as transfer of officials increasingly came under political scrutiny and led to friction between opposition functionaries and ministers, with BJP and JD(S) accusing the government of indulging in cash-for-transfer scam.
Officials at the CMO, however, insist that the circular has been issued not because of allegations of graft, but owing to reports that development work was being affected because of frequent transfers.
Senior JD(S) functionary HD Kumaraswamy had earlier claimed that funds worth over Rs 1,000 crore had changed hands over “transfer-postings” of officials. Without naming anyone, he had pointed fingers at some ministers and Siddaramaiah’s son Yathindra. “There are syndicates and lobbies in the government, demanding commission in exchange for transfers. There have been more than 200 transfers in the commercial department alone in a span of two months since this [Congress] government came to power,” Kumaraswamy alleged.
Saturday’s circular states: “Between May and July, a minister was granted the authority to transfer up to 6 per cent of senior officers and staff members from Groups A, B, C and D for the fiscal year 2023-24 within their respective departments.” However, any transfers made beyond this stipulated transfer period must now be placed before the CM for approval.
