Babus taking up private job soon after retirement akin to misconduct: CVC

New Delhi: Taking note of instances of retired officials taking up jobs in private sector organisations soon after their retirement, the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) on Thursday said acceptance of such an employment offer without the completion of the mandatory cooling-off period "constitutes a serious misconduct".

In an order, it also said that all government organisations should mandatorily take vigilance clearance before offering post-retirement jobs to babus.

"It has been observed that on some occasions, immediately after their retirement from government organisations, retired officials are taking up full-time job/contractual assignments in private sector organisations," the CVC said in the order issued to secretaries of all Central government departments and chiefs of public sector banks among others.

Quite often, cooling off period, as prescribed under the rules of organisations concerned, is not observed before taking up such offers, it said.

"Post-retirement acceptance of offer by retired government officials without observing cooling off period, constitutes a serious misconduct on their part," the probity watchdog said.

All government organisations may, therefore, formulate appropriate rules and guidelines for their employees to ensure that post-retirement, the cooling off period is mandatorily observed by them before accepting any offer from private sector entities, the order said.

The rules and guidelines should incorporate the procedure for seeking or obtaining permission before accepting offer from private sector entities during the cooling off period if not in existence, it said.

The applicable service or conduct rules should also be revised and modified to ensure that, if required, appropriate action can also be initiated in case of violation of such rules by retired employees, the Commission said.