Goof-up in appointment norms for telecom officer

In blatant violation of the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) appointment rules and regulations, the Ministry of Communication (MoC) seems to have done a major goof up regarding the appointment procedure related to a senior Telecom Officer at the Permanent Mission of India in Geneva, Switzerland.

Against the Government’s convention of a minimum four weeks to process an appointment in any department, the Department of Telecommunication (DoT) under MoC sought applications from eligible Indian Telecom Services (ITS) Group A officers giving them a time period of only five working days to apply.

The advertisement was issued by DoT on July 9, 2021 and the deadline ended on July 16, 2021, which includes a weekend. Sources said the selection of the candidate/officer will be done during the next couple of days completing the process within less than a fortnight.

The said position is for UPSC selected Indian Engineering Services ITS officers falling under Senior Administrative Group (SAG) category for the post of a Technical Expert at Geneva, requiring qualifications and expertise in domestic and international telecom avenues, modernization of equipments, cyber security, networking, licensing and enforcement and monitoring of various communications and IT regulatory guidelines.

While the number of applications received was not known, many ‘eligible’ officers failed to apply due to various reasons including restrictions related to pandemic, and many recuperating from post-covid complications.

“Ideally a month’s time is good so that the message is spread from various means like electronically, print publications and most significantly by word of mouth and sharing messages,” rued a retired ITS officer requesting not be named when briefed about this goof up done soon after the resignation of high profile Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.

A senior DoPT official explained that the kind of experience being sought for the post can only be fulfilled by a select few people (read officers), particularly those posted in the DoT headquarters.

“Therefore, it excludes a large number of ITS officers posted outside the DoT headquarters including BSNL, MTNL, other PSEs and subsidiaries and on field,” said the official.

However, in its defence, officials at DoT said the process of appointment is purely an internal matter and one week’s time is justified as they are asking the details only from SAG level officers of ITS.

Another officer said doubts are being raised owing to the speed of the appointment process and especially, when one of the members of the selection committee, who is also serving as Member DoT, is scheduled to retire this month and the Telecom Secretary himself is to superannuate next month. The Pioneer