Changes would dilute the benefit of reservation: Assam Legislative Assembly Debabrata Saikia

GUWAHATI, July 17: Leader of the Opposition, Assam Legislative Assembly Debabrata Saikia expressed grave concern at the reported conspiracy by a clique of IAS officers to hamper the promotion prospects of senior members of the ACS by means of amending certain provisions of the Assam Civil Services Rules, 2015 on the basis of Revision of Pay.

Saikia said in a statement on Tuesday that if ratified, the changes in service rules would ensure that most senior ACS officers mainly of the 1992, 1993 and 1995 batches would not be able to rise above the level of Additional Secretary and thereby be deprived of attaining the level of Secretary at the time of retirement. “This would be totally unfair to these officers as they have already had to wait for periods ranging from 18 years to 22 years to reach the level of Deputy Secretary or ADC,” he said.

Saikia pointed out that the proposed changes would dilute the benefit of reservation of 30 Secretary-level posts for ACS officers, which had been implemented during the tenure of the erstwhile Congress government following a cadre review undertaken by former Additional Chief Secretary, Subhash Chandra Das.