The Yogi Adityanath government on Tuesday approved the New Transfer Policy for 2024-25. Under this policy, Group A & Group B officers who have completed three years in district and seven years in division can be transferred. However, the oldest officers in Group C and Group D will be transferred first.

The maximum limit for the transfer of Group A and Group B officers has been kept at 20 per cent, while for Group C and Group D, the maximum limit is 10 per cent. Under the new policy, all transfers must be done by June 30.

It is worth mentioning here that a total of 42 proposals were placed in the cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday and 41 of them were approved.

Finance and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Khanna provided details on the proposals approved during the meeting, announcing that the cabinet has endorsed the transfer policy for 2024-25. This policy is consistent with the provisions of last year’s policy.

According to the new policy, Group A and Group B officers who have served seven years in the division and three years in the district will be subject to transfers. The policy stipulates that up to 20 per cent of officers in Group A and Group B and up to 10 per cent of officers in Group C and Group D can be transferred.

For Group C and Group D, the policy prioritises transferring the longest-serving officers first. Ministerial approval will be required if it is necessary to transfer more than 10 per cent of Group C and Group D officers. Similarly, transferring more than 20 per cent of Group A and Group B officers will necessitate approval from the chief minister.

Khanna stated that Group C and Group D transfers would be managed entirely through the Manav Sampada portal. This system facilitates online arrangements for handing over and taking charge post-transfer. Additionally, it allows for the digitisation of service books and officers’ salaries.

He also mentioned that under the existing system for the eight aspirational districts and 100 aspirational development blocks across 34 districts, filling vacant positions in these areas was the top most priority.

The cabinet also announced a significant gift for lakhs of state government employees on the occasion. According to the announcement, the government employees retiring on June 30 and December 31 can benefit from the proposed salary hike from July 1 and January 1, respectively.

Khanna said that according to the system that was in place till now, the employees retiring on June 30 and December 31 could not benefit from the salary hike implemented from July 1 or January 1.

The cabinet’s approval will not only facilitate salary hikes for such employees but also increase their pension and gratuity. Khanna said that after a decision of the Supreme Court, judicial employees had already been availing the benefits and now the policy would also benefit other government employees.

In other decision, the Yogi government also made minor amendments to the names of five universities in the state, dropping the word ‘state’ from Maharaja Suheldev State University (Azamgarh), Maa Shakumbhari Devi State University (Saharanpur), Maa Vindhyavasini State University (Mirzapur), Maa Pateshwari Devi State University (Balrampur), and  Uttar Pradesh State University (Moradabad).

The Uttar Pradesh State University (Moradabad) has been renamed Guru Jambheshwar University.

Higher Education Minister Yogendra Upadhyay said that the state government was committed to developing higher education for the benefit of the state’s students. For this, along with government universities, private universities were also being promoted, he added.

In this sequence, a proposal to give a Letter of Intent to two new private universities has been passed. One of these is HRIT (Ghaziabad), and the other is Future University (Bareilly), both of which have fulfilled the standards.