Second is the problem arising from the current policy of continuing retirees in service under various subterfuges. The rules governing extensions and re-employment are clear. An officer should only be continued in service after retirement if no suitable officer is available to occupy these positions. This raises the moot question: why should such conditions arise? Has the incumbent ensured that no one has been groomed for his post? Indiscriminate extensions and re-employment block promotion opportunities for serving officials, which has a cascading effect down the hierarchy. The demoralisation caused demotivates them, and leads to more premature retirements.

And yet it is common knowledge that officials retiring from the posts of cabinet secretary, secretaries to ministries in the GoI, and chief secretaries in the states routinely have their services extended. All manner of posts are reserved for these worthies in a regular alphabet soup of organisations like BIFR (Bureau for Industrial Finance and Reconstruction), CAT (Central Administrative Tribunal), SAT (State Administrative Tribunal), CIC (Central Information Commission) etc. Each service has its own claim to such posts for the retirees, and it is no secret that organisations are especially designed to provide post-retirement sinecures for the favoured. Then, there is the vast region of inquiry commissions available to them. Indeed, the art lies for retirees to ensconce themselves in commissions concerned with resolving insoluble problems and then to continue serving them for ever. All these posts could easily be occupied by serving officials, providing them with greater promotional avenues and making their prospects more attractive.

... contd.