• NET Web Desk

Tension against the repeated cancellation and refusal to hold departmental promotion committee (DPC) meetings brewed strong as on Tuesday hundreds of Arunachal Pradesh Civil Service (APCS) officers submitted applications for casual leave for two days.

The submission of hundreds of casual leave applications was a part of the Arunachal Pradesh Civil Service Officers’ Association’s (APCSOA) agitation against the alleged Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar for not convening DPC meetings on time.

It may be mentioned that, early on 9 November the APCSOA served an ultimatum to the chief secretary to conduct the DPC meeting within two weeks. The officers accused Kumar of showing a ‘laid back’ attitude towards their issue, ultimately depriving them of promotions and career progression.

A member said, “It is also alleged that no DPC meeting has been convened over the last one year. It is claimed that the chief secretary postponed the DPC meeting five times in three months – two times despite widely circulating information that it would be held, and three times after the dates had been fixed verbally.”

Sources informed that around more than 30 proposals have been sent for DPC meetings for various grades, including three for senior administration grade, nine for administration grade, and seven for senior grades. The state has 483 sanctioned state civil service posts.

According to APCSOA, the chief secretary has been harping on holding DPC meetings on a regular basis for filling up the vacancies occurring during the course of the year and to avoid denial of career growth of the eligible officers.

An APCS officer said, “When all required documents have been submitted by the personnel department, why is there delay in convening DPC meeting?”

“The chief secretary himself has been reminding every department on timely holding of DPC meetings. Now he is deliberately avoiding or ignoring our DPC. Isn’t this the biggest irony?” he said.

With such hardline protests jolted the state government which reportedly stepped in to pacify the agitated APCS officers.

Sources further divulged that, Home Minister Bamang Felix held a roundtable meeting with representatives of the APCSOA and pleaded with them to reconsider their mass casual leave agitation.

Following the intervention of Felix, the government has rescheduled the DPC meeting on 7 December, 2021.