Govt staff back officer who sought ban on rituals in schools

Even as Shiv Sena pushes CM to withdraw controversial notification and announce action on officer, employee association says he did nothing wrong

Government employees are coming together to stop the state from take action against a senior officer who had issued a notification banning religious functions in government and semi-government offices and schools.

Shiv Sena ministers yesterday claimed that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis agreed to withdraw the notification and take action against the section officer in the Rural Development Department, AV Varkade, who issued a notification on January 4. The directive asked CEOs of zilla parishads across the state to not allow any kind of religious function or rituals.

Flexing muscle
Sena ministers met Fadnavis after party chief Uddhav Thackeray publicly expressed his displeasure over the notification. In the same speech, Thackeray also broke ties with the BJP for the civic and ZP polls. The meeting is seen as Sena's effort to mount pressure on the BJP. Environment minister Ramdas Kadam told the media that the CM has assured to withdraw the controversial notification and take disciplinary action against the officer concerned.

State employees, however, see Sena's demand and BJP's positive response as something done out of political compulsion. GD Kulthe of Maharashtra Gazetted Officers' Association, an apex body of all government officers, told mid-day that the association would protest if any action is taken on the officer, who has been "blamed for reiterating a progressive decision that was taken in 2002".

"I can tell you that the officer, who is our member, will not suffer. He did not do any dereliction of duty, he did not make a mistake. He just reiterated the decision," said Kulthe. Other employee associations and trade unions that protect government servants working in the non-officer category are also up in arms over the government's plan of taking action.

Notice served
Education minister Vinod Tawde said the officer has been asked to explain his action, adding that no ordinance or notification was issued in the past. "It was just a letter. The officer in question did not seek his boss's (deputy secretary) approval before sending out a reminder," Tawde said, adding that a show-cause notice was issued to him on January 25 itself.

Tawde also came down heavily on Sena ministers for spreading wrong information. "They should have taken a proper briefing before telling their boss. A controversy has been created for no reason," he said.

Jan 4
Date the notification was issued

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