After much trial and errors, Railways has embarked on path of reforms, beginning with selection for key operational posts
Something unusual happened in Indian Railways (IR) last month, as hundreds of senior officers in Level 15, or Higher Administration Grade, filled up applications
for selection as General Manager. They described five contributions they had made to the Railways in the course of their services, besides their impact areas if they were selected for the designated roles. Some of the officers even enlisted consultants to write their applications.
The top management of IR appears to be in a mess due to half-baked reforms, lacking in purpose, initiated by the previous Railway Board. Numerous top posts of IR, particularly Members of Board and General Managers (GMs), lie vacant, while it was announced that future induction of officers would be done for Indian Railway Management Service (IRMS), an integrated service through a common examination. There was more criticism than support for the move with reservations for a single cadre at the entry stage, even while the rationale to do away with the functioning in silos was much appreciated.
The incumbent Railways Minister is faced with the challenges of a deep financial crisis, attributable partly to the pandemic, but also to IR’s inherent lethargy and problems. One would have thought that having got the notification for recruitment of 150 IRMS officers issued, the goal of unification of its eight existing cadres would take a backseat, as bringing them on a common platform would cause a serious imbalance between engineers, who join at a younger age, vis-Ã -vis others, who join at an older age through Civil Services examination.
The ministry decided that officers from 1983 to 1986 batches, currently serving in Level 15 from the eight organised Group-A services (Civil, Mechanical, Electrical, Traffic, Accounts, Personnel, Signal and Stores), would be eligible to apply for empanelment in Level 16 of IRMS and they would form the pool for the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet to choose from for the 29 posts of GMs and equivalents.
Senior officers in Level 15, or HAG, still in service on a cut-off date, irrespective of the number of years of service left, can apply with self-assessment. The selection process for empanelment would include Emotional Quotient test, multi-source assessment (peers, seniors, etc) and scrutiny of annual confidential reports. This system largely takes away any advantage of the age factor.
A panel comprising retired Board Members, GMs, Additional Members, Departmental Heads and retired Secretaries to GoI shall evaluate the applications for a Departmental Promotion Committee. The latter will include Secretary/DOP&T, Chairman & CEO, IR and one Secretary-level non-railway officer and make an overall recommendation for empanelment.
The IR has seven posts in Level 17, the next level after GM, which are, Chairman Railway Board cum CEO, Members and Board Director Generals. There would be a similar process for selection to these posts from officers of Level 15 and 16, subject to their still being in service on a cut-off date. This too is transformational; in a lighter vein, for Level 15 officers, it is tantamount to ‘double promotion’ in schools of yore, reserved for brilliant students.
In the present system, officers can work out, with a reasonable accuracy, right at the beginning of their careers, the level to which they would rise based on their date of birth, as the system provides for yearly empanelment from Level 15 based on inter-se seniority and their balance years in service on a cut-off date. This is detrimental with a double whammy; those who are likely to go up decide to tread cautiously and not take any transformational or tricky decisions which can invite vigilance complaints and controversies and those not likely to rise to the top decide to take it easy without much incentive to perform. There sure are self-motivated officers as exceptions but the outcome of mediocre chalta hai (everything acceptable!) performance is more common. In the new system, the top posts have been opened to a much larger pool of officers.
Today, the officers who join IRTS, IRAS and IRPS at an older age through Civil Services examination are at a disadvantage vis-Ã -vis engineers who join at a younger age through Indian Engineering Service examination. A detrimental fallout of this has been that officers of these key departments do not rise to become GM; in my early service days some of the finest GMs came from IRTS as they had great insight into the nitty-gritty of railway operations. The new system gives a chance to such officers.
Since 2016, those empanelled in Level 16, but not posted, as they lacked two-year residual services on the date of vacancy, were given Level 16 pay and pension benefits once their junior(s) got posted. It follows that those who missed empanelment on age grounds should also get this relief. Such officers would now, not only be eligible for entering the panel, but also get the Level 16 pay and pension benefits.
(The author is a former general manager in the Indian Railways)