In the ongoing case at the Central Administrative Tribunal, Chandigarh bench, regarding the 3rd cadre review at PGIMER, the institute has been given three weeks to provide its response during the recent hearing on March 18 in contempt petition filed by PGI employees union non-faculty.

Chairperson of the PGI Contract Workers’ Union’s joint action committee and former president of the PGI employees union non-faculty Ashwani Kumar Munjal, expressed concern over the lack of cadre reviews at PGIMER . He highlighted that it has been over 30 years since the last review in 1992, despite a tenfold increase in patient load.

Munjal stated that they approached the court in 2013 to address the issue, emphasising that the workload has significantly increased over the years without corresponding adjustments in the workforce. After orders from the court, PGIMER had constituted a committee of cadre review in 2015. However, the union had formed it in 2012 itself, but PGIMER did not issue any notification.

“Following our legal action, the PGIMER committee issued a notification outlining the chairman and other members of the cadre review committee,” added Munjal.

He added that from 2020 onwards, there was no progress made by PGIMER. “Subsequently, we resumed legal proceedings to enforce the cadre review. In April 2023, the court issued orders mandating the implementation of the judgment, ” he added.

The CAT bench, in its order dated April 17, 2023, directed PGIMER to take decision on the report of 3rd cadre review recommendations within a period of six 6 months. But no action was taken, following which PGI employees union non-faculty filed a contempt petition in CAT.

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According to ministry of personnel, public grievances and pensions, the objectives of the cadre review are to restructure a cadre to remove the deficiencies which might be existing at the time of the constitution of a service or have crept in subsequently and ensure that the cadre structure satisfies the functional, structural and personnel considerations.

The review will estimate the future manpower requirements on a scientific basis for a period of 5 years at a time, plan recruitments avoiding future promotional blocks and at the same time preventing gaps from building up. Restructuring the cadre will harmonise the functional needs with the legitimate career expectations of its members and thus to enhance the effectiveness of the service.

Cadre review provides an opportunity to overcome various bottlenecks, remove existing distortions and bring about rationalisation of cadre structure so as to improve the efficiency and morale of the cadre officers.