THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The revenue department is amending the rules to make the service at village offices compulsory for the employees to be promoted to the posts of village officer and deputy tehsildar. The Revenue Ministerial Subordinate Service Rules of 1985 and the Revenue Subordinate Service Rules of 1980 are being amended. The draft is being prepared.

The new requirement for promotion to village officer is three years of service as clerk / senior clerk in village offices. There is a mandatory minimum of two years service in the post of village officer for promotion to deputy tehsildar / junior superintendent. The new provision will apply to clerical staff who will be promoted as village officers after June 1, 2025 and to those who will be promoted to deputy tehsildars after June 1, 2024. Minister K Rajan had discussed this with the representatives of various organizations in the department last Wednesday. The proposal was welcomed by the organizations.

The decision was based on the conviction that inexperience in the field affects the quality of service provided by employees who are promoted to such posts without service in the village offices. A 2010 study by the Personnel and Administrative Reforms Department formed a special committee and found that the lack of field-level training for such officers was holding back the revenue department. It was also assessed that there are flaws in many of the decisions taken.

A person who enters the post of clerk in the revenue department can be promoted to the rank of village officer, deputy tehsildar, tehsildar and deputy collector.

The government aims to make services in village offices to be available to the public as soon as possible, said minister K Rajan.