New Delhi: State civil servants are the real victims of red tape in our country. The department of personnel and training, well known as DOPT, has drawn a discrimination line among the different state civil servants when it comes to promotion.

In one state the officers are efficiently promoted, almost after eight years’ service from PCS to IAS positions, but simultaneously other state officers are getting promoted after 22 years of service, especially in Uttar Pradesh.  The officers of the state provincial services are urging the DOPT to initiate a change in the rules of promotion for the officers. 

Sometime before the association of the pcs officer from the Uttar Pradesh cadre conducted a closed-door discussion in Lucknow about the central government’s biased rules against promotion policy of the state UP PCS officers. Officers cited the point that the UP cadre officers were not being promoted to the IAS cadre properly.

However, the strength of the state civil servants of Uttar Pradesh is the largest among all states in the country. Despite this, the conditions of the UP cadre, especially in terms of the promotion, are the worst when compared with the rest of the nation. 

Ironically, UP PCS officers are deprived of the facilities provided by the central government. Several officers have retired from service without getting any promotion in the state. However, PCS officers from the neighbouring states like Uttarakhand, officers get promotions within fifteen years of service. Also, it is surprising that the rules are the same for the entire state, which was framed by the department of personnel and training, the regularity department for bureaucrats under the central government.

The association of the state services has cited service matter several times and had put forwarded their representation to the DOPT to apply a fair promotion policy for all the states. Meanwhile, DOPT has not yet taken any positive step towards implementing the policy. 

The general secretary of the association of UP state civil services, Pawan Gangwar, said, “we are trying and battling for our rights in the promotion to be at par with other states. Unfortunately, as of now, we have not succeeded, but from the last five years, we have tried to bring down this disparity with other states. We are very hopeful, and DOPT sooner or later will consider our request to eliminate discrimination on promotion policy within Uttar Pradesh”.