Face2News/Chandigarh

As on date, three dozen officers in the Cadre of Haryana Civil Services (Executive Branch) - HCS (EB), which is the State Civil Services of Haryana, are posted as Sub Divisional Officers (Civil) - SDO(Civil) or in other words Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDMs) in various Sub-Divisions in the State who however don't fulfill the benchmark of having minimum service in HCS (EB) Cadre as required for such posting as per prevalent Cadre Strength and Composition Order issued by State Government.

An Advocate at Punjab and Haryana High Court, Hemant Kumar, indeed wrote to Haryana Government on 20 Sep 2022 in this regard when however number of such HCS (EB) officers i.e. who possess less than five years of service in ibid Cadre and were posted as SDMs across the State were 31 but unfortunately he received no response in this regard hitherto. On the contrary, such strength in due course has risen to 35 currently.

Hemant asserted that there is no denying the fact that the posting and transfer of officers is the prerogative of the Competent Authority ( in case of HCS-EB officers, it's the State Government in the Personnel Department which comes directly under Chief Minister/Chief Secretary). However, the HCS Cadre Strength and Composition Order as issued by Vijay Vardhan, then Chief Secretary, Haryana vide Order No. 43/1/2014- 6SII dated 15 October 2020 and which is even applicable today (since it has not been amended/modified till date) the posts of Sub-Divisional Officer (Civil)- SDMs are shown therein under the head of Senior Scale/Selection Grade (5-15 years of service) i.e. HCS-EB Service.

Hence in view of the above Order issued by Haryana Government, one seriously wonders how & if the 35 HCS (EB) officers of 2019 and 2020 batches of HCS(EB) do indeed qualify for being posted as Sub-Divisional Officers (Civil) in various Sub-Divisions across the State of Haryana.

The question which arises if that if the posts of Sub-Divisional Officers (Civil) /SDM have since been taken out of the Senior Scale/Selection Grade (5-15 years of service) after the issuance of above Order dated 15 Oct, 2020 Order or else all such 35 HCS (EB) officers, who belong to 2019 and 2020 batches, have been granted any sort of special relaxation by the Haryana Government for making them duly eligible for posting as Sub-Divisional Officers (Civil) /SDM i.e. even before completion of minimum 5 years of HCS (EB) service. Be that as it may, there ought to be due Public & Proactive Disclosure in this regard.

Elaborating on four different Registers (modes) of entry into HCS (EB), Hemant said that Register A-1 means persons who served as District Revenue Officers/Tehsildars and have been promoted/inducted into HCS (EB). Similarly Register A-11 means persons who have been in Group C service of the State Government and have been inducted into HCS (EB). Register C means persons who served as District Development and Panchayat Officer/Block Development and Panchayat Officer and have been promoted/inducted into HCS (EB). Register B however refers to directly recruited ( selected) Officers in HCS(EB) via open competitive three-stage examination conducted by HPSC- Haryana Public Service Commission on the lines of UPSC's annually conducted Civil Services Exam.

There are also five IAS officers of 2020 batch i.e. who are below four years of service i.e. below Senior Scale and are posted as Sub-Divisional Officers (Civil) (SDM) across the State. These are viz. Pradeep Singh (Gurugram), Deepak Babulal Karwa (Loharu), Pankaj (Jind), C. Jayasharadha (Naraingarh) and Harshit Kumar (Mahendragarh).

It is pertinent to mention here that although entrants in HCS(EB) from Registers A-1, A-11 & C have however put in prior State Government Service of more than five years in their respective fields but the fact is that such previous service ( that is before being inducted into HCS-EB) is not taken into record for grant of Senior & Selection Grade in HCS-EB which is only given after putting in 5 to 15 years of service in HCS-EB.

The Advocate further revealed that as on date, a total of 35 HCS (EB) Officers who are of 2019 and 2020 Batches i.e. 8 from Register A-I (2019 batch) viz. Rajesh Punia ( posted at Indri), Subhash Chander-1(Sampla), Anil Kumar Doon (Narwana), Rajender Kumar (Sirsa), Jagdish Chander (Ratia), Darshan Kumar (Ambala), Sanjeev Kumar(Bawal) & Rajesh Kumar-II (Fatehabad), 10 From Register A-II (2019 batch) viz. Manoj Kumar-1 ( Narnaul), Virender Singh Dhull (Panipat), Laxmi Narayan (Hathin), Suresh Kumar (Badhra), Jaspal Singh (Bilaspur), Naveen Kumar (Charkhi Dadri), Surinder Singh (Kanina), Ashok Kumar-1 (Jagadhri), Ranbir Singh (Ferozepur Jhirka) and Hosyar Singh (Rewari), 6 from Register C (2019 batch) viz. Ashvir Singh (Barwala), Rakesh Sandhu (Sonipat), Vishal (Badli), Kapil Kumar (Shahabad), Jitender Singh (Hansi) and Anubhav Mehta (Karnal) and 11 from Register B (2020 batch) viz. Jeetinder Joshi (Uchana Kalan), Jyoti (Kharkhoda), Amit Kumar- II (Radaur), Siddharth Dahiya (Tauru), Jai Parkash (Kosli), Ravindra Malik (Beri), Prateek Hooda (Tohana), Rohit Kumar (Guhla), Amit (Samalkha), Naseeb Kumar (Ladwa) and
Devendra Sharma (Kalayat) are currently posted as Sub-Divisional Officers (Civil) (a.k.a. SDM) across the State of Haryana.

Interestingly, there are also five IAS officers of 2020 batch i.e. who are below four years of service i.e. below Senior Scale and are posted as Sub-Divisional Officers (Civil) (SDM) across the State. These are
viz. Pradeep Singh (Gurugram), Deepak Babulal Karwa (Loharu), Pankaj (Jind), C. Jayasharadha (Naraingarh) and Harshit Kumar (Mahendragarh).