§ 4. Mr. BETTERTONasked the Secretary of State for India in what respects, if any, the status of the officials in the Public Works Department has been altered or modified by recent administrative action; and, in particular, whether there has been any alteration in the terms of service as regards pay, pension, and promotion?
§ Sir L. WORTHINGTON-EVANSIn 1920 approval was given to the amalgamation of the Imperial and Provincial Services of the Public Works Department into a single Indian service of engineers; the effect of this amalgamation was to improve the status of the provincial service. As regards the second part of the hon. Member's question, the scales of pay and pension for this service have recently been improved, and, if he desires, a detailed statement of the old and new scales will be circulated in the OFFICIAL REPORT. The only recent alteration in promotion is that an assistant executive engineer now qualifies for substantive promotion to the rank of executive engineer after nine, instead of 10 years' service.