Security staff member gets special promotion

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:  In an unusual step, a security guard in the Secretariat service has been granted a promotion and salary hike in violation of existing procedures, thanks to his close association with higher-ups in the state administration.Vijayakumaran Thampi, the security guard, was promoted, albeit to a temporary post, as per a special order dated December 8 issued by an Additional Secretary of the General Administration Department (GAD). He has been posted as ‘Assistant Security Officer on Special Duty’ with a salary scale of `14,620- `25,280 in the Chief Minister’s Office.Interestingly, the post was specially created on a temporary basis allegedly to accommodate Thampi.Though the incident has sparked protest among the over 100 guards in service, nobody has dared to openly question the unfair treatment meted out to them fearing repercussions.“He doesn’t hold any special merit or qualification than us to be eligible for a special promotion and salary hike. This is nothing but a case of nepotism,” a guard who preferred anonymity told this paper.Interestingly, the guard is ranked 101 in the seniority list of 106 guards in the Secretariat service published in July 2010. Meanwhile, the CMO maintained that it was the privilege of the government to do so.“The guard is doing extra duty on the days when the Chief Minister is in office. This promotion is a reward for his service,” said an additional private secretary to the Chief Minister. “There is nothing unusual in it and no one has complained about this, including Opposition-backed Secretariat staff associations,” he said.Thampi, who joined the Secretariat service as a temporary staff, was made permanent along with several others in 2005.He is known to be a close confidant of a powerful person in the Secretariat circles. “It is common for the governments to appoint their confidants in the CMO. But to create a special salary scale for a person and overlooking the seniority and all other guidelines is an unprecedented move,” said a senior official of the General Administration Department.“Moreover there are three guards on duty in the CM’s office on a rotation-basis, he said. The order says that Thampi’s appointment will be above the existing Security Staff Cadre. The ‘tailor-made’ order promoting Thampi says that the tenure of the appointment would be either till his retirement or the tenure of the government, whichever is earlier. His salary scale has been raised from `9,940- `16,580 to `14,620 - `25,280, the order says.It is also alleged that the government is considering making permanent around 45 guards currently working on temporary basis. The PSC had in 2010 conducted an examination to the post when eight vacancies were reported, and the rank list is likely to be published within two months. In 2005, around 27 guards were made permanent without going in for a PSC recruitment, followed by bribery allegations.Besides denying the  the chance for candidates from all parts of the state, that recruitment process had also violated the reservation rules.