Experts question contractual hiring of Chief of Railway Safety Commission

New Delhi, Nov 4 (PTI) The appointment of the Chief Commissioner of Railway Safety on a contractual basis, while keeping recruitment rules in abeyance, has come under criticism from a section of experts who have called it an “arbitrary” move that may compromise the integrity of the statutory post.
     The Commission of Railway Safety is a statutory body under the administrative control of the Ministry of Civil Aviation to independently investigate train accidents.
     When contacted, the Civil Aviation Ministry did not respond to queries on the issue.
     The rail operations across the country have been divided into nine circles to define the jurisdiction of each Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS), headed by a Chief Commissioner of Railway Safety (CCRS).
     The Civil Aviation Ministry issued an officer order on October 31, 2025 - the day the Chief Commissioner of Railway Safety retired - re-employing him in the same post on a contractual basis from November 1, 2025.
     “Approval of the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) is hereby conveyed for re-employment of Shri Janak Kumar Garg as Chief Commissioner of Railway Safety, on a contract basis, for a period of 01 year w.e.f. 01.11.2025, or until further orders, whichever is earlier, on usual terms and conditions applicable to re-employed Central Government Officers, by keeping RRs in abeyance,” the order said.
     Subodh Jain, Ex-Member, Engineering, Railway Board, said that the government "must clarify the reasons for re-appointing a person on a contractual basis for the post of Commissioner of Railway Safety after his retirement”.
     “CCRS or CRS is not an executive post. It is a statutory body and its independence is sacrosanct. Such arbitrary decisions amount to compromising the Commission's integrity,” Jain said.
     Senior railway officials said that the CRS or CCRS is expected to be a person of integrity with excellent technical knowledge.
     They said that the Commission has to audit the work of the Railways as well as the Railway Board.
     Sudhanshu Mani, who led the Vande Bharat project, said the move disregards established norms and will affect the Commission's credibility.
     "It is unfortunate that the government has extended its frequent tendency to reemploy retiring executives on contract now to the statutory office of CCRS," he said.
     "This contractual reappointment, which would tend to keep the CCRS on a leash, undermines the sacrosanct independence of the post. It's a cynical decision without any precedence, disregarding established norms, raising concerns about the likely loss of the Commission's credibility," Mani, a retired general manager in the railways, said.
     According to the norms, the CCRS is appointed on a seniority basis from among the CRSes who should have at least three years of working experience as CRS.
     “AM Chowdhary, the CRS for the Southern Circle, is the senior-most among all the CRSes and has also completed three years in this post. So, he was the deserving among all but the Ministry has overlooked his candidature and re-hired Garg as CCRS,” a senior railway official said.
     "It is pertinent for the government to answer if the current CCRS solicited the post or the government offered him on its own,” Jain said.
     “It is almost like a judge retired as chief justice and then hired on contract to serve on the same post. Doesn't it undermine the integrity of the whole judicial system?” another expert questioned.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)