State government orders speeding up of departmental probes

Chandigarh, July 14, 2014: The Punjab government has issued strict orders to all departments to resolve any inquiries to prevent unnecessary delays in the progress of retirement benefits, promotions etc. of employees/officers facing the inquiry.
Disclosing this here today a spokesperson of Personnel Department said that the orders have been issued to all departments under the Punjab Civil Services (Punishment and Appeal) Rules, 1970 to immediately settle all the departmental inquiries. He said that if a charge sheet is issued against any employee/officer, he/she must respond to the same within 15 days. If he/she delays in the submission of this response, a warning letter would be issued after which if response is not received within 21 days, an additional leeway of 10 days will be given to formulate a suitable reply. He said that if the appropriate answer has not been even then, the Government would initiate unilateral action against the employee/officer after the appointment of an Investigating Officer and Hearing Officers. The spokesperson said that according to official guidelines, this investigation of the concerned employee/officer must be completed within 6 months.
The spokesperson added that the Government has ordered departments to ensure that in the above mentioned case, serious action must be taken swiftly and in a strict time-bound manner. Any departmental inquiries pending for more than 6 months, the department has to submit a report on the same on the 7th of the first month of each quarter, to its concerned Administrative Department.