Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann has expressed concern over the partial system that was adopted towards the Punjab Cadre bureaucrats for filling up the posts of Civil Administration in Chandigarh Administration. The CM has written a letter to Chandigarh Administrator Banwari Lal Purohit appealing to maintain the ratio of 60:40 between Punjab-Haryana.
Mann insisted that after the reorganisation of Punjab in 1966, officers (Bureaucrats) were given certain posts such as Home Secretary, Finance Secretary, Deputy Commissioner, and Municipal Commissioner with the approval of the central government, was taken on Inter-Cadre deputation.
He said that the posts of Finance Secretary and Commissioner of Municipal Corporation are filled through IAS officers of Punjab cadre, while the posts of Home Secretary and Deputy Commissioner are filled by IAS officers of Haryana cadre.
Mann said that these officers are selected after a rigorous process and they are also given charge of different major departments. For the last few years, it has come to notice that the AGMUT in the Chandigarh Administration is given favourable treatment. The number of IAS officers of the AGMUT cadre is increasing continuously and most of the important posts which were earlier given to the IAS officers of the Punjab cadre are being given to the IAS officers of the AGMUT cadre. Mann said that it is noteworthy that the major departments, which were earlier held by the Finance Secretary, are now with many junior AGMUT’s Cadre IAS officers. The CM said that these officers, without the necessary experience and knowledge, are inefficient in taking quick decisions regarding complex issues relating to UT Chandigarh and Punjab and Haryana and timely implementation of the decisions taken.