Moves afoot to integrate local administration services

Decision may trigger another govt.-employees confrontation

Another row seems to be in the offing with the State Government moving to integrate the Panchayat, Urban Affairs, Rural Development and Town Planning Departments into a unified Local Government service.

The Local Government Commission,which has been entrusted with the job of formulating the draft special rules, has written to the directors of these departments to furnish details of seniority list of officers and other employees, vacant posts, latest approved administrative reports for the last three years, existing special rules in respect of State and subordinate services and contingent employees, department-wise staff strength, region and district-wise staff strength.

These details have been sought to enable the commission to formulate the principles of integration while formulating the special rules. The departments are required to submit all the details in the proforma given by the commission.

Governor’s speech

The government has taken this move in the context of the promise in the Governor’s speech that all services in the the Local Self-Government Department would be integrated into a unified service. The Opposition employees organisations have already locked horns with the LDF government over the establishment of the Kerala Administrative Service and are preparing for a long-drawn agitation against its implementation. The move to integrate the departments is likely to be opposed by the Opposition unions.

Contrary to the UDF government which had to bifurcate various departments for political reasons, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had allocated all the subjects related to local administration to K.T. Jaleel. This is expected to make things easy for the government to complete the integration, according to senior government sources.

In the meantime, the Rural Development Department issued guidelines for transfers for 2017, prescribing norms for applying for transfers, with the last date being fixed on February 28. The draft list will be published on March 20, according to an official statement.