Relocation of officers stirs up friction between DPIIT and Patent Office

Indian Express

25-05-2025

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) and its subordinate office, the Indian Patent Office, are at odds over the relocation of 21 officers comprising comptroller and examiners of patents and designs, internal documents reviewed by The Indian Express have shown.
The Patent Office approved the 'transfer & posting' of Group A officers despite the DPIIT's objections to any such move as flagged in an internal email dated May 15. The department had flagged that the list of officers prepared by the Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs & Trade Marks (CGPDTM) was not in line with the existing transfer policy that came into effect on July 7 last year.
On May 14, the DPIIT highlighted that the new transfer policy did not include provisions for 'the women category, medical conditions, or the regularisation of temporary transfers'. The department informed the Patent Office that the ministry was in the 'process of revising the transfer policy', and advised that 'no decisions on postings' be made until the revised policy was finalised.
Notably, the DPIIT also pointed out that the proposed list of officer relocations did not follow the 'decreasing station tenure' principle. In government service, this generally refers to reducing the time an employee is stationed at a particular location, to ensure a fairer distribution of postings and opportunities.
However, an official speaking on condition of anonymity said the Patent Office's May 15 order did not constitute a 'transfer' but rather a 'regularisation of posting'.
'This is not a transfer of the officers. The transfer happened in 2023. The regularisation was delayed because one of the officers approached the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT). While his matter is in abeyance pending the outcome, resolution for other remaining officers has been undertaken,' the official said.
As per the transfer policy, the rotation and other transfers should be issued once a year between April 1 to May 15.
Notably, in an order dated March 19, 2024 the DPIIT had directed the Patent Office to refrain from initiating any proposals for transfer or posting of Group A officers until further notice from the ministry. 'I am directed to refer to the above subject and to state that several complaints have been received in this Department regarding the transfer or postings of officials in the Office of CGPDTM,' the DPIIT stated.
Later on May 3, 2024 the DPIIT pulled up the patent office on a transfer issue stating: '.. repeated disregard of directions/instructions issued by this Department is being observed. It is pertinent to mention here that the 'Code of Conduct' governs all government employees and repetitive disregard of the directions of the Ministry by a subordinate office is not in accordance with the established norms, which has been viewed seriously by this Department,' the order said.
A query emailed to the spokesperson of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry on Thursday remained unanswered.
The Indian Express had reported in August last year that the legality of thousands of trademark orders passed over the previous two years by the CGPDTM was called into question, as the Union Law Ministry and an Additional Solicitor General (ASG) of India deemed these orders 'legally unenforceable'.
The issue arose because the orders had been issued by outsourced employees, in violation of the Trade Marks Act, 1999. The CGPDTM had outsourced 790 employees through the Quality Council of India (QCI) at an annual cost of Rs 50.26 crore from October 10, 2022.
The ASG had recommended that the DPIIT constitute a committee of officials who are statutorily authorised to make quasi-judicial decisions, and that this committee thoroughly review and scrutinise all decisions made by outsourced personnel. The committee has been reviewing the order ever since finding a number of errors.
Ravi Dutta Mishra is a Principal Correspondent with The Indian Express, covering policy issues related to trade, commerce, and banking. He has over five years of experience and has previously worked with Mint, CNBC-TV18, and other news outlets. ... Read More