Did the first ever mass transfer of state government employees in Telangana take place as per the rules set by the state government? Not really, if the list of those who received the transfer orders are crossed-checked with those officials who are eligible for transfers. It appears that government departments have not followed the rule book.
This was the first ever state-level transfer since the Kamalanathan Committee completed the task of bifurcation of state cadre employees between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana in 2016.
However, a study of the transfer orders of the Public Health and Municipal Engineering Department under Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MAUD) reveals that many employees who are eligible for transfer from Greater Hyderabad Municipal corporation (GHMC) were not transferred.
A comparison of the list of those who are eligible for transfers and those who finally got the transfers reveals that the public health department, however, has not followed the government order on transfers.
In May 2018, the Telangana state government had come out with a well-drafted order that gave clear guidelines on the transfer processes to be adopted by the department heads.
The order clearly states that those who have served five years in a particular station shall not be retained and must be transferred. The order even details on the priority of transfer based on the number of years put in for service the longer an official serves, the higher his chance of being transferred.
Some officials who had served over 30 years in the same department have been overlooked and those who have served a lesser number of years have been transferred.
“I have accepted the transfer but senior officials did not follow the procedure. Had they followed there would be a lesser chance of me being transferred. It all depends on who has influence and who does not,” said an official whose name appears on the list of transfers.
When the engineer-in-chief for public health, R Dhansingh was asked about the discrepancies, he stated that the people who have not been transferred have put up years within a zone and their zonal service cannot be taken into account when considering them for state transfers.
“We have the problem with respect to only GHMC, city cadre posts. These people who have not been transferred under the GO have served for over 20 years within Hyderabad itself as city cadre. They recently have become state-level cadre only recently and do not meet the criteria, thus don't qualify for the transfers,” he said.
However, a clarification on the order that came out in June, released by the state government,debunks the official’s statement.
When asked whether zonal or city cadres are eligible for transfers, the clarification given was a yes.
“As per Para 3 (lV) (b) of GO cited, station means place (city, Town, village) of actual working for the purpose of transfers and not office or institution,” the clarification states.
The official responded to this clarification said: “We are aware of this issue have discussed this at our committee meetings. This issue is pertaining to a few departments alone, the Roads and Buildings department too have done the same.”