Mumbai: Following a demand for a probe into civic engineers declining promotions, the BMC has issued a revised circular stating that if it is found that an employee refused to accept a promotion with the intention of avoiding a transfer to a particular department, office, or post, he/she will be transferred to another department or office after completion of the departmental promotion committee’s proceedings.At least two executive engineers and eight assistant engineers had recently declined promotions to the posts of deputy chief engineer and executive engineer, respectively, following which BMC opposition leaders sought a probe into their decision. Following the demand for an inquiry, the civic administration on Monday issued an order revising its 1992 circular on refusal of promotions by employees.According to the revised circular, the promotion order will be sent to the employee concerned in writing as well as to his official email address. The employee will be required to take charge of the new post within 15 days from the date of acceptance of the promotion order. It will also be mandatory for the head of the department to relieve the employee within a maximum of seven days. Even if the head of the department does not issue a relieving order, the employee must join the new post without waiting for it as per the deadline. If the employee fails to take charge of the new post within 15 days from the date of acceptance of the promotion order, he shall be deemed to have refused the promotion.Congress group leader Ashraf Azmi, who had sought an inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the refusal of promotions, said the revised circular was a positive step on the part of the municipal commissioner and would provide equal opportunity to all engineers. Azmi demanded that the administration should not allow engineers who have retained their posts despite being promoted, allegedly due to vested interests, to continue in those posts.Monday’s circular also stated that an employee who refuses a promotion shall be disqualified from promotion for a period of two years and will not be entitled to seniority during that period. A junior employee who is promoted during the period of disqualification will be considered senior to the employee who refused the promotion.Further, the promotion claim of an employee who has been disqualified from promotion for a period of two years for refusing a promotion will not be automatically restored unless the employee submits a written request, subject to the prevailing rules and the recommendation of the departmental promotion committee.
