The AAP government in Punjab has recently been making headlines for all the wrong reasons. About a week ago, the state government was in the news for relieving one of its cabinet ministers of the charge of a department that never existed. Now, another bizarre incident has come to light from the state in which several staff members in the state education department were transferred across districts based on a fake transfer order.
As per reports, 57 clerk-cum-data entry operators and sewadars in the Punjab education department were shifted based on fake transfer orders. Notably, instead of individual transfer orders addressed to each employee, the fake transfer was a combined one to all 57 employees. It was issued on 2nd February in the name of the Director of School Education (Secondary), which contained the list of all the employees. The list included names, other details and their new posting details. Reportedly, Several District Education Officers (DEOs) implemented the fake orders believing them to be authentic.
Notably, the order issued on 2nd February asked all the employees to report to their assigned stations at 9 am on 3rd February, which is not possible for most people unless the new office is in the same place. This caused confusion among employees listed in the order, and many of them started posting it on social media. The blunder was noticed only after the fake transfer order went viral on social media.
Upon noticing the mistake, the Director of General School Education (DGSE) issued an urgent letter to all the DEOs asking them not to act based on the fake orders. On 26th February, the Director confirmed that some DEOs and school heads had shifted some employees acting on the fake orders. The Director further instructed the DEOs and school heads not to consider any transfer orders unless they are officially communicated through designated email channels. He urged the officials to verify the authenticity of orders before acting on them.
Punjab government department that did not exist
On 21st February, the Punjab government informed through a gazette notification that the Department of Administrative Reforms which was allotted to MLA Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal did not exist. Interestingly, it took more than 19 months for the Bhagwant Mann-led AAP government in the state to realise that the department did not exist. The Department was allotted to Dhaliwal via a notification dated 23rd September 2024. Later, in an attempt to cover up the blunder, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann said that the department’s nomenclature had been changed.
However, reports claimed that the Department of Administrative Reforms did not have any staff. After being given the charge of the department, Dhaliwal kept asking the government to appoint a secretary but no such officer was posted. He was later informed that administrative reforms fell under the Governance Reforms Department.
