The High Court of Bombay at Goa has condemned the Public Works Department (PWD) for repeatedly extending the services of certain retired employees. The court made this observation, because of a petition filed by a vexed employee, and stated that extension stops a person from a lower rank to be promoted and reach the higher level, provided the employee has the prerequisite qualifications. Furthermore, the PWD and the govt must introspect on the recruitment rules and either relax the qualifications for the lower cadre or fill the higher posts with direct recruitment. And, the govt should avoid service extensions and recruit young blood. No employee is indispensable and the employee who is to be promoted may not be qualified (perhaps a diploma holder instead of a degree). But if found eligible to the higher level, by virtue of experience, then s/he could shadow the soon-to-retire employee. The newly promoted employee could be sent for training and skilled/reskilled for the nature of job to be handled at the higher level. These processes would be simpler and faster than asking the departments and the govt to change the recruitment rules.
