Chennai: An RTI reply has exposed an alleged irregularity in promotions in the department for the welfare of differently abled persons, revealing that 17 employees with only Class X or Class XII were promoted as junior rehabilitation officers (JROs) and later rose to senior positions, including assistant director and deputy director.The promotions were given based on a 2009 govt order issued by social welfare and nutritious meal programme department, which relaxed the prescribed educational qualification for promotion of orthotic technicians to JROs. Instead of the mandatory postgraduate degree in psychology, social work or sociology, the order allowed orthotic technicians with 10 years of service to become eligible for promotion.RTI applicant K Parthasarathy, citing official records obtained under the RTI Act, said that based on the govt order, 17 employees possessing only SSLC or higher secondary qualifications were promoted as temporary JROs. Though they later obtained postgraduate degrees in sociology through the open university system, human resource management department’s govt order No. 116 of 2010 states that candidates who obtain a postgraduate degree without first acquiring a basic undergraduate degree are not eligible for appointment or promotion in public service.The then commissioner for differently abled welfare P R Shampath, in proceedings dated Aug 8, 2010, cited the human resource management department order and directed that such employees be removed from the seniority list and that a fresh promotion panel be prepared.However, according to the RTI reply, the order was never implemented. Instead, the employees continued in service, received promotions on administrative grounds and their appointments were regularised in 2020.“Five years later, they were promoted as district differently abled rehabilitation officers. Subsequently, they became assistant directors against vacancies arising due to retirements,” Parthasarathy said. He added that one officer with only SSLC qualification retired as an assistant director, while two others retired as DDROs in the past two years.Fourteen of the 17 officers continue in service, and two among them have now been promoted as deputy directors. According to the documents availed under RTI Act, the two officers G Jagadeesan and Y D Shrinaath were promoted despite having served for less than two years as assistant directors after department commissioner Laksmi recommended relaxation of another service condition requiring an assistant director to complete at least three years in the post before becoming eligible for promotion.When contacted, Lakshmi denied any irregularities in the appointment or promotion of staff within the department. “The promotions follow existing procedures and comply with govt orders,” she said.
