Seventeen officers belonging to different central ministries, departments and public sector undertakings were removed from service during April-May this year, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Thursday.
Union minister of state for personnel Jitendra Singh said,of the 17 officers sent on premature retirement or jobs terminated, twobelonged to the department of commerce, nine to the department of expenditure,two from the ministry of defence and four from the ministry of housing and urbanaffairs.
The termination orders were issued, based on the policy ofperiodic review and premature retirement of government servants, which is acontinuous process. The factors taken into consideration include integrity,performance, delivery etc., of the officer, he said in a written reply.In response to the query whether there were anyguidelines laid down against corrupt and non-performing employees, the Ministersaid it has been reiterated from time to time to ensure that the prescribedprocedure like forming of opinion to retire a government officer or employeeprematurely in public interest is strictly adhered to, and the decision is notan arbitrary one, and is not based on collateral grounds.