129 'non-performing' officers forced to retire : Union minister Jitendra Singh

As many as 129 government officers have been forced to retire in past few months in public interest for being non-performers, Union minister Jitendra Singh said today. 

The action is part of review being done by the central government to check deadwood of its workforce.

"A total of 30 Group A officers and 99 Group B officers (total 129) have been sent on retirement in past few months," he said during a press conference.

The punishment of compulsory retirement was given after reviewing service records of over 24,000 Group A officers and 42,251 Group B officers.

He said the authorities are looking into the service records of another 34,451 Group A officers and 42,521 from Group B to check the non-performers.

Singh, Minister of State in the Prime Minister's office, said the government has zero-tolerance policy towards corruption and it is committed to ensure citizen-centric governance.

The Centre had in January terminated a senior IAS officer on grounds of non-performance.

Earlier in 2014, graft-tainted IAS couple in Madhya Pradesh, Arvind and Tinoo Joshi, were dismissed from service, four years after an income-tax search on their house led to detection of disproportionate assets worth Rs 350 crore and recovery of Rs three crore cash.

A service review on a government employee is conducted twice -- first after 15 years and again after 25 years of completion of qualifying service.