Municipal Affairs dept warns ULBs against unauthorised appointments

Kolkata: The state Municipal Affairs department has issued a stern warning to the urban local bodies (ULBs) not to appoint any casual worker on monthly remuneration basis, without the approval of the state government.

"The state government shall not take any responsibility for regularisation of workers, who have been appointed without prior written approval of the state government...This restriction, however, does not apply to workers engaged under the provisions of West Bengal Urban Employment Scheme, 2010," read the notification undersigned by Subrata Gupta, Principal Secretary of Municipal Affairs department.

It further states that in order to prevent diversion of funds to non-developmental activities to pay for such "unauthorisedly appointed staff", the state government may withhold grants to the urban local bodies in case such unauthorised recruitments come to its notice.

The move assumes significance as Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had pulled up former Mayor of Howrah Municipal Corporation

Rathin Chakraborty over appointment of 419 contractual staff without the Finance department's approval, during the administrative review meeting of Howrah district on August 19.

Banerjee had made it clear that no development fund can be diverted for paying the remuneration of staff. The Chief Minister has also directed conducting an audit of municipalities to examine whether funds are being utilised, as per financial rules.

It has come to the notice of the department that some ULBs have recruited staff in the past, without prior approval of the department.

"This is a serious departure from rules and procedures. So the urban local bodies have been advised not to engage such staff even if the ULB proposes to pay them from their own resources, without prior written approval of the department," said an official in the department.

The official added that recruiting people without obtaining prior approval leads to several complications.

Firstly, as these posts are beyond the approved staff pattern, they cannot be paid through the grants provided by the government for the purpose of payment of salaries to employees.

Next, such recruitments lead to legal challenges and staff recruited without prior approval cannot be provided service benefits and post-retirement benefits at par with regular staff.

"These staff often move courts for obtaining orders for such payments, creating an embarrassing situation for the government," the official said.