Mizoram cracks down on ‘proxy culture’; 29 govt staff sacked
Minister Sapdanga revealed that disciplinary action was initiated against 37 employees, of which 29 were terminated
A file image of Mizoram Assembly. (Photo:@airnewsalerts/X)
Aizawl, Feb 24: The Mizoram government has terminated 29 employees across various departments for illegally hiring "proxies" to perform their duties, state Personnel and Administrative Reforms Minister K Sapdanga informed the assembly on Tuesday.
The crackdown follows a directive from Chief Minister Lalduhoma to end the decades-old practice of government staffers paying substitutes to work in their place.
Cabinet minister Sapdanga revealed that disciplinary action was initiated against 37 employees found in violation of service norms.
"Altogether, 37 employees have been penalised for hiring proxy or substitute workers on their behalf. Of these, 29 have been terminated from service, while the remaining eight employees received minor penalties," Sapdanga said while responding to questions from members.
He said that these disciplinary actions have been recorded in their Annual Confidential Reports (ACR), which could negatively impact their future service prospects.
The scale of the "proxy culture" became evident after a December 2023 government order.
Soon after assuming power, the Zoram People's Movement (ZPM) dispensation has vowed to end the illegal practice and directed employees using proxies to self-report to their respective department heads by January 2024.
According to official data, over 3,600 employees admitted to hiring substitute staffers. The School Education department has the highest proxy staffers at 1,115, followed by health department (624) and power and electricity department (253).
More than 2,000 employees cited health issues, while 703 pointed to domestic problems as reasons for hiring proxies. Other challenges mentioned by the employees included lack of residential quarters in rural areas, the inaccessibility of remote villages, and language barriers.
In June 2024, the government had directed all such employees to be stationed at their designated posting places within 45 days of the notification. In March last year, Lalduhoma had informed the state assembly that there was no report of employees hiring proxies following the government order.
The Chief Minister had also said that his government will give a voluntary retirement to employees who are no longer fit to execute their duties due to certain reasons, under the newly introduced “Special Voluntary Retirement Scheme”.
According to the Mizoram Special Voluntary Retirement Scheme, 2024 notified in January 2025, regular employees governed by CCS (Pension) Rules, 1972, who have not rendered a minimum of twenty years of service and those employees governed by the Mizoram New Defined Contributory System, 2010 may seek voluntary retirement under the scheme.
The number of government employees in Mizoram is estimated to be between 45,000 to 50,000, according to officials.
PTI