The Pune Municipal Corporation has suspended the promotion of 25 junior engineers to branch engineer posts, just two days after the departmental promotion committee approved the appointments, following complaints that the required examination and service-entry rules had not been followed.
The decision to suspend the promotions was issued on September 24 by Additional Municipal Commissioner Prajit Nair on the instructions of Municipal Commissioner Naval Kishore Ram, according to a report by Pudhari – Pune. The promotion committee had approved the appointments on September 22.
The dispute centres on the Maharashtra Engineering Training Academy examination, which junior engineers are required to clear within three years or three attempts under the applicable service-entry rules. The 25 engineers were promoted despite having cleared the examination in three attempts over four years, prompting other junior engineers to submit a complaint to the municipal commissioner.
Nair said the promotion decision had initially been taken on the basis of a circular issued during the Covid-19 period, when examinations were not conducted. However, a corrigendum issued on September 19 to an order dated September 7 clarified that promotions could not be granted under that interpretation, leading the administration to suspend the decision.
The examination is considered important for municipal engineering positions because it tests technical knowledge as well as understanding of government estimates, bill preparation, auditing and government rules. These responsibilities directly affect the preparation, supervision and financial processing of civic infrastructure works.
The episode has also highlighted the staffing pressure within the municipal corporation. Of its 16,369 sanctioned posts, 8,328 are filled, leaving a large number vacant, according to the report. The corporation had earlier recruited 135 junior engineers and later another 146 to address shortages in its engineering establishment.
There had been 127 vacancies in branch engineer posts for several years. The corporation recently promoted 81 junior engineers, after which 43 branch engineer positions remained vacant. The administration then decided to fill 25 of those vacancies through promotion, but that decision has now been put on hold.
The promotion dispute comes against a broader backdrop of delays in the civic administration’s employee promotion process. The report states that employees often wait for years for advancement and that some retire before their cases are resolved. Promotions are governed by prescribed service periods, seniority, government rules and court orders, making procedural scrutiny central to the process.
The immediate next step is a review of the 25 promotions in light of the service-entry rules and the September 19 corrigendum. Until that review is completed, the affected junior engineers will remain without the branch engineer promotions approved on September 22.
