New Delhi: Six gazetted officers of the Defence Ministry's Military Engineer

Services (MES) have been sacked. All of them are assistant engineers and have been
identified as- Dilip Chand, Umesh Kaslekar, Tajinder Singh, Amar Singh, Samir
Debnath and BK Gopinathan. They have been booked under Rule 56J of the government's
'Fundamental Rules' which say that non-performing officers who have poor records
over a number of years can be removed from service if they are 55 years old or have
worked for 30 years.

Many among the ones suspended have had adverse remarks against them in their Annual
Confidential Reports (ACRs) in the past. The orders were issued by the Engineer-in-
Chief, Lieutenant general SK Srivastava. Service records of 484 officers of the MES
were assessed and more heads can roll as the performance of 1,500 more officers of
the MES are being looked at- sources told Times Now.

While the Supreme Court has spoken about "removing deadwood," in this context, the
said rule has rarely been used. Now, however, the ministry has decided to increase
the levels of efficiency in organisations like the MES. It is learnt that other
departments of the ministry will also be looked at shortly.