Even though the High Court had criticised the government for repeatedly granting extensions, urging it to bring in younger officers, concerns are raised about fairness, lack of transparency, and hindering the career progression of other deserving officers. In another case, to appoint the retired AE on contract basis has raised questions over adherence to judicial directions. The contract appointment proposal was earlier rejected by CS. Many petitions has been filed before HC challenging not only PCEs extension, but also promotions within the PWD, alleging violations of recruitment rules and High Court judgment. Recently the state government had introduced a provision allowing engineers of PWD, DWD, GED, holding the rank of CEs and above to continue beyond 60 years after retirement, but only if no eligible candidate is available for promotion. The government should end extensions as they hamper the promotion prospects of other staffers. Extensions given to key officers amount to favouritism, makes them subservient and denies an opportunity to deserving senior officers to reach the top. Good governance aims towards betterment of people, and this cannot take place without the government being accountable to the people.
