How many years of service is enough for bank management to assess and judge the potential, character, knowledge, capability, capacity, attitude, managerial skill, innovative skills, creative ideas, ,initiative, willingness, honesty and integrity etc of an officer for giving promotion to him from one grade to another grade, or from one scale to other?
10 years, 20 years, 30 years or more?
Educational qualification of a staff, record of performance during preceding years and his capacity to satisfy customers is already tested by management during his posting at various branches and offices. What else is then required to be tested by Interview panel to judge whether one staff is suitable for promotion or not?
Quality of an officer is already tested by bank management in span of more than 10 years and even thirty years of service and hence it is foolish to expect from members of Interview panel that during one to three minute interaction with the candidate in Interview process they will be able to extract something additional from the candidate.
Obviously Interview process is used to reject good officers and select officers who may be bad performer but who are the choice of members of Interview panel constituted for promotion process. Officers who are flatterer and who earn bribe and honestly share with their bosses or who is choice of some VIPs can be selected in preference to really good performers only by using weapons of rejection handed over to members of Interview panel.
If 10 to 30 years of service is not adequate to estimate the suitability of an officer for promotion to higher scale I think officers who judge and who are supposed to decide the suitability of an officer for promotion to higher grade or higher scale are incompetent and of doubtful integrity. Obviously such officers should be shown the exit door first.
On the contrary if an officer is not fit for promotion to higher scale even after 10 to 30 years of his service, such incompetent officers should be removed from service or given CRS.Only stopping of annual increment is not enough to penalize such non performers.
It is worthwhile to mention here that officers who work sincerely but not found fit for promotion either by corrupt member of Interview panel in interview process or due to biased rating in Annual appraisal reports are given assignment of higher responsibility by bank management. Such senior officers perform the best but they are not given even annual increment. They are kept in stagnation for three years irrespective of their performance. Juniors who do not perform are getting increment every year without any hindrances whereas seniors who perform better are denied even annual increment. It is justified or not only God knows.
But if an officer has to pass through ordeal of interview for getting promotion to higher grade scale does not seem justified from any angle of consideration. Interview and appraisal system in banking industry prevalent for promotion is totally unjustified, illogical and ill motivated. Such unwarranted processes give enough scope for injustice. Such Interviews are nothing but paves the way for arbitrary promotion to person who are not good for the health of the bank.
This is worthwhile to state that officers who are selected for promotion are invariably found to be guilty of causing loss to bank in subsequent years. It astonishes that officers of negligent and fraudulent character, officers who are charged with various lapses and against whom disciplinary action has been initiated, are selected in faulty promotion processes prevalent in banking industry and conducted by greedy and corrupt senior officers. This is why bad officers are posted as Branch head who do not know how to deal with customers and how to protect the interest of the bank. As a result NPA is increasing year after year in Public sector banks and the government is silent spectator of mischievous acts of top ranked officers.
CBI is more often than not asked to investigate into fraud or any matter related to loss of money to bank or any other office, but I am of strong opinion that CBI investigation should be conducted into all recruitment and promotion processes which are taking place and which took place during last 10 to 30 years. This can only reveal the ongoing corrupt and unhealthy practices in the system which leads in unhealthy practices and rise in corruption. Permanent Solution to this cancerous disease of bribe or flattery oriented recruitment, posting, promotion in government offices can only pave the way for real reformation in banking industry in particular and government department in general.
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