New rule on transfers riles senior engineering cadre in PWD

Now, power of transfers has been vested with respective departments and not DPAR

Senior engineering cadre in the State, which is already feeling the heat of trifurcation of the Public Works Department, is now riled at a change of rule that they fear would not only cause confusion on deputation but also truncate their promotion avenues.

More than a dozen Engineering-in-Chiefs and Chief Engineers have written to the Government to withdraw the changes brought through the notification of The Karnataka Government (Allocation of Business) (Amendment) Rules, 2021, which now vests the power of transfers with the respective departments, taking away the power from Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms (DPAR) that was in place since 1977.

“The trifurcation process has not been completed yet and confusion is still around in the engineering cadres. We do not understand the rationale behind bringing new rules even before completion of the four-decade-long trifurcation process,” said sourcesin the PublicWorks Department. “The allocation of business is silent on deputation to other departments. There are nearly a dozen posts of chief engineers in other departments. So far, DPARhas beeninvolved in such postings. Individually can departments sendtheirengineers on deputation?”