The Government of Goa appears to be very interested in giving repeated extensions to retired officers. The latest officer in this list is Law Secretary Sharad Marathe and Secretary (Lokayukta) Mathew Samuel. While the retired officers are granted extensions, the promotions of younger officers are halted because of it. Further, new recruitments are also impeded as the government’s vacancies remain filled. While the then Leader of Opposition Manohar Parrikar often castigated the Congress-led governments for granting such repeated extensions, Chief Minister Parrikar too seems to be following the same practice. It is high time the Government of Goa shuns this tradition of granting extensions to officers, purportedly in “public interest”. If the Government of Goa lacks the pool of civil servants, it should recruit more Junior Scale officers through the Goa Public Service Commission.
Vikas Kamat, Aquem
