Continuing from my earlier post on the HR Policy at the Patent Office, I will briefly discuss the status of recruitment and promotions at the Trade Marks Registry (TMR). Image from here.The relevant rules for recruitment and promotions at the TMR are called the ‘Trade Marks and Geographical Indications Registry (Registrars and Examiners) Recruitment Rules, 2011. (click here to download these rules) These rules create 6 classes of officers at the Trade Marks Registry:
(i) Senior Joint Registrar of Trade Marks & GIs;
(ii) Joint Registrar of Trade Marks & GIs;
(iii) Deputy Registrar of Trade Marks & GIs;
(iv) Asst. Registrar of Trade Marks & GIs;
(v) Senior Examiner of Trade Marks & GIs;
(vi) Examiner of Trade Marks & GIs.
Surprising the post of ‘Examiner’ falls in Group B of the Central Services, despite the other 5 classes being slotted in Group A of the Central Services. Personnel in the Group A services enjoy better salaries and perks than officers in Group B services. The minimum qualification for the post of ‘Examiner’ is a law degree from a recognized university and a minimum of two years in handling court cases or in handling TMs and GIs. A person who has completed a law degree would have spent a minimum of 5-6 years in college – what’s the logic of classifying such personnel as Group B officers?
Like the patent office, promotions at the TMR are handled by Departmental Committees. Promotions of Examiners to the post of Senior Examiners are handled by a committee consisting of Chairperson/Member of the Union Public Services Commission (UPSC), Joint Secretary (Administration), DIPP and Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks (CGPDTM). An Examiner can qualify for promotion to the post of a Senior Examiner after 3 years of regular service as an Examiner. Similarly a Senior Examiner can be promoted to the post of Asst. Registrar of Trade Marks and GIs after 5 years of regular service as a Senior Examiner of Trade Marks.
In response to a separate RTI Application, the DIPP has informed me that in the last 5 years the Departmental Promotion Committees have met 8 times and approved just 19 promotions. In comparison the Patent Office has seen close to 68 promotions in the same time period. Attrition at the TMR has been particularly brutal in the last few years. In 2009-2010 the TMR was working at just 17% of its total sanctioned strength. To add to the mess, the DIPP has hardly been conducting recruitments for the TMR. We’ve covered the situation at the TMR in much greater detail in a post available over here.
There are several officer’s posts are vacant and many eligible candidates are available in the office. But due to the inefficiency and lack of interest among the administrators are the main reason behind the non filling of vacant posts in the office. I know many officers who joined 15-16 years before in the office and sitting in the same post they joined or next immediate post. As per the recruitment rule an Examiner can become senior Examiner after 3 years of regular service but many of the present senior Examiners and Assistant Registrars infact got their promotion after 10 or more years continuosly working in the same post and that too after so many follow ups and legal battle. One of the reasons they never got the promotion in time is non conducting of DPC in time and because of this many younger candidates were recruited directly by UPSC recently ahead of seniors and it created frustration among the seniors. They realised that they don’t have much career progression and thereby they are not contributing any worthy thing to the office. Most of these officers are showing their frustration by simply passing their time.
It is high time the ministry had provided one time relaxation to the stringent recruitment rule and give promotions to those officers to bring back their confidence.
Your report is an eye opener to all IP practioners and owners and we should salute Mr. Kurien & Co, because with such a limited number of staff(17% of total sanctioned strength) they are doing pretty good job. I have read many reports in respect of corruptions in the trade marks registry and now I understand the root cause of corruption i.e lack of employees. The govt should punish those senior officers who are responsible for not conducting the DPC in time
If a person sits in the same post for 15-16 years without leaving for better prospects it means that he is not good for anything else. DIPP knows that even if it doesnt promote these people they would continue here. Attrition is almost nil in TMR.So why should the authorities bother?
sir has the scenario changed or still the same. Why the govt is sleeping