IEP Chandigarh, October 21
In a landmark decision aimed at further cementing the ethos of Punjab, Punjabi and Punjabiat in the state, the Punjab Cabinet led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann today gave nod for amending Rule 17 of Punjab Civil Services (General and Common Conditions of services) Rules, 1994 and Punjab State (Group D) Service Rules 1963 with an aim to ensure that only those candidates are appointed in the Punjab government who have in depth knowledge of Punjabi language. A decision to this effect was taken in the meeting of the Council of Ministers held under the chairmanship of the Chief Minister here at Punjab Civil Secretariat- I. Divulging the details a spokesperson of the Chief Minister’s Office said that in the rule 17 of the Punjab Civil Services (General and Common Conditions of Service) Rules, 1994, the first proviso, for the words “Provided that where a person”, has been replaced with “Provided that no person shall be appointed to any post in Group-‘C’ service unless he has passed a qualifying test of Punjabi Language equivalent to Matriculation standard with at least fifty per cent marks, to be conducted by respective recruitment agencies in addition to competitive examination. The test of Punjabi Language shall be a mandatory qualifying test and failure to secure a minimum of fifty per cent marks in Punjabi Language will disqualify the candidate for being considered in the final merit list of candidates to be selected irrespective of their scores or marks in other papers of the respective exam. Similarly as per amendment in clause (d) of the Rule 5, in the Punjab State (Group-D) Service Rules, 1963, the words “provided that” has been replaced with “Provided that no person shall be appointed to any post in any service by direct appointment unless he has passed a qualifying test of Punjabi Language equivalent to Middle standard with at least fifty per cent marks, to be conducted by the respective recruitment agencies in addition to competitive examination. The test of Punjabi Language shall be a mandatory qualifying test and failure to secure a minimum of fifty per cent marks in Punjabi Language will disqualify the candidate for being considered in the final merit list of candidates to be selected irrespective of their scores or marks in other papers of the respective exam. AMENDS PUNJAB MINOR MINERALS RULES 2013 TO ENHANCE PENALTY ON PERPETRATORS OF ILLEGAL MINING In order to check illegal mining in the state, the Cabinet also gave green signal to amend rule 7.5 of the Punjab Minor Minerals Rules 2013 thereby enhancing the slab of penalty from existing Rs 5000- Rs 25,000 to Rs 50000 to 2.5 lakh. The decision has been taken as it was realized that people engaged in illegal mining are afraid of penalty, whereas the rates of penalty are very negligible and were fixed a long time ago and had varied between Rs 5000 to Rs 25000 which is very low. So it has been decided to enhance these rates ten times and fix the rates of penalty between 50000 to 2 50 lac depending upon the carrier mode viz. Tractor Trolly and other small vehicles. Truck and Multi excel truck or other. APPROVES TO AMEND ‘THE PUNJAB AGRICULTURAL PRODUCE MARKETS ACT-1961’ With a view to cut down financial expenditure and administrative burden in the state, the Cabinet also gave approval to amend in Section 3 (1) of ‘The Punjab Agricultural Produce Markets Act-1961’ to abolish the posts of Vice-Chairman and Senior Vice-Chairman in Punjab Mandi Board. The posts of Vice Chairman and Senior Vice Chairman were created in the year 2010 and 2016 respectively. CREATES 23 POSTS OF CM’S FIELD OFFICER BY ABOLISHING ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER (GRIEVANCES) To overhaul the grievance redressal mechanism, the Punjab Cabinet gave its approval to abolish the existing 23 posts of Assistant Commissioner (Grievances) with creation of a similar number of new Posts of Chief Minister’s Field Officer at District level. With this significant decision, the citizens of the state would get a formal platform where their grievances can be redressed in a timely manner after being analyzed in an impartial, categorical manner. The Deputy Commissioner of the district shall monitor the work of the Chief Minister’s Field Officer regularly and have requisite support provided for effective Redressal of grievances. APPROVES SCHEME FOR COMPASSIONATE APPOINTMENT TO THE WARDS OF THE DECEASED EMPLOYEES OF PSEB (NOW PSPCL) The Cabinet also approved the Scheme for compassionate Appointment to the wards of the deceased employees of PSEB (now PSPCL) expired before April 16, 2010 who have earlier been covered under solatium policy. As per this decision grant of compassionate employment shall be applicable prospectively to only those cases where the date of death of the deceased employee was before April 04, 2010 and which were earlier considered under solatium policy including the cases in which date of death of deceased employee was prior to the year 2002 (the year in which compassionate appointment policy was discontinued). This scheme for grant of compassionate employment shall be optional. The dependents who don’t want to opt for a job on compassionate grounds under this scheme will be allowed to retain the benefits of solatium and/or special pension already availed under solatium policy
