Appointments to senior level positions in Railways

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

MINISTRY OF  RAILWAYS

RAJYA SABHA

ANSWERED ON-16.08.2013

Appointments to senior level positions in Railways

(a) the details of the procedure and eligibility conditions for appointment of GM, Member, Railway Board and Chairman, Railway Board;

(b) whether many senior positions in Railways are kept vacant deliberately and seniority is bypassed in many cases;

(c) if so, the details thereof for last four years;

(d) the reasons for bypassing seniority and vacancy at senior positions including GM and above, case-wise;

(e) whether Government would frame rules for appointment to the posts of DRM and above to check corruption and if so, the details thereof; and

(f) if not, the reasons therefor?

ANSWER

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(a): The posts of General Managers are filled up as per norms laid down for the same vide Resolution dated 16.07.86, as amended from time to time. The basic norms laid down are that officers belonging to the eight organized Group ‘A’ Railway Services are eligible for being considered for appointments to these posts and inter se seniority list of Senior Administrative Grade officers belonging to these services are drawn up for this purpose. Officers with 25 years of Group ‘A’ service and working in Senior Administrative Grade are considered, the officers working in Higher Administrative Grade being placed above those working in Senior Administrative Grade. Only such officers are considered for empanelment and appointment who have a minimum residual service of two years. The panels are made based on the recommendations of a high level Selection Committee comprising of Chairman, Railway Board, as Chairman and two other Members — one being Secretary, Department of Personnel and Training and the other being a Member of Railway Board nominated by Cabinet Secretary. The panels are approved by the Appointments Committee of the Committee and specific appointments are also made with the approval of the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet.

As for the posts of Members of Railway Board, the same are filled up on the basis of Resolution dated 16.02.87, as amended from time to time. For the posts of Members, an officer should normally have balance tenure of two years from the date of occurrence of vacancy and the officer should normally have worked for a period of one year as General Manager (Open Line). For the post of Financial Commissioner (Railways), the requirement is that of a normal service of one year on any post of General Manager/equivalent. As for the post of Chairman, Railway Board, the officer should normally have a minimum tenure of two years as Member and/or Chairman, including at least one year as Chairman, Railway Board.

(b) & (c): As on date, there are twenty six posts of General Managers/equivalent on the Indian Railways. Out of these, seven posts are vacant. However, looking after arrangements have been made to ensure that the work of these posts does not suffer. Filling up of the vacant posts is a continuous process which involves processing and approvals at various levels of the Government.

(d): The posts of General Managers and Members do not belong to any specific cadre or service. These posts are filled up not by promotion but through appointment and, therefore, the question of making appointments as per seniority does not arise. The posts are filled up as per the availability of the specific vacancy and the clearance given to the officers who are empanelled. There is one more aspect to this issue. It has been laid down that not more than 37.5 % of the total number of posts of General Managers/equivalent (9 out of 26) can be held at any point of time by officers belonging to any one of the eight organized Group ‘A’ services. Therefore, it often happens that when officers of a particular service are already holding 9 posts of General Managers/equivalent, the next vacancy will not be filled up by an officer belonging to that particular service, even though he may be the senior-most officer in the panel.

(e) & (f): There are detailed internal guidelines which are followed for short-listing of Senior Administrative Grade officers belonging to the eight organized Group ‘A’ services as Divisional Railway Managers. It has been laid down that officers in the shortlist who are below the age of 52 years are posted as Divisional Railway Managers. The shortlist is prepared with the approval of Hon’ble Minister of Railways. This system has also been working smoothly over a long period of time.