Union Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Jitendra Singh said here on Tuesday that the Lok Sabha Secretariat would soon give its opinion on the issue of appointments to statutory posts in the absence of a Leader of the Opposition (LoP). The LoP is on the selection committees for the appointment of the Central Vigilance Commissioner, the Lokpal and so on.
“We had this problem. We sought the opinion of the Lok Sabha Secretariat on what can be the ideal way to proceed. I think very soon we will have a conclusive opinion,” Dr. Singh said at a press conference to highlight the achievements of his Ministry in the first 100 days of the Modi government.
Dr. Singh said the process for appointment of the Chief Information Commissioner was under way. The post has been lying vacant since Rajiv Mathur demitted office on August 22.
“The Central Vigilance Commissioner is still there, he is to retire by September-end. We will take a call when that happens. The appointment of the CIC and the Information Commissioners is in process,” he added.
Achievements
Listing the achievements of his Ministry, Dr. Singh said the age-old system of mandatory attestations and affidavits had been done away with and replaced by the universally accepted rule of self-attestation. Except in areas having security ramifications, self-certification would suffice.
Dr. Singh said necessary amendments to the relevant laws would be carried out soon.
Stating that his prime goal from the day of assuming charge was to simplify governance to make it citizen-centric, the Union Minister added that another breakthrough had been made in the field of pensioners’ welfare relating to pre-retirement counselling and post-retirement engagement. The government had disposed of 6,197 of the over 10,000 pending grievances of pensioners.
The Ministry was also planning to bridge the gap between various pension schemes. A meeting on the issue was held a couple of days ago with the representatives of retired government employees’ unions.
Dr. Singh said the Ministry acted with great speed and facilitated the setting up of the State administrative machinery in the newly created Telangana State.
Another priority for the Ministry had been reduction in the processing time and fast-tracking of decisions. This year, cadre allocation to those recruited through the Union Public Service Commission was done in 12 days compared to 148 days the previous year.
The Department of Personnel and Training would amend the rules to widen the definition of “sexual harassment” and “workplace” to improve the working conditions of women employees, the Minister said.
