As many as 129 government officials have been asked to leave due to non-performance in the last few months, as per media reports.

A total of 30 Group A officers and 99 Group B officers (total 129) have been sent on retirement in past few months," Union minister Jitendra Singh was quoted as saying in a press conference. 

The decision to punish the officials with compulsory retirement was made after reviewing the service records of more than 24,000 Group A officers and 42,251 Group B officers. The review was conducted by the central government with a view to assess the deadwood of its workforce. The authorities are checking the service records of another 34,451 Group A officers and 42,521 from Group B, the Union Minster added. He also said that the government has a zero-tolerance policy towards corruption, and that it is committed to ensure citizen-centric governance. 

For government employees, service reviews are conducted twice: the first one after 15 years, and the second after 25 years of completion of qualifying service.

This is not the first time the government has undertaken the step of weeding out employees due to poor performance. In January, the Centre had sacked a senior IAS official, and two senior IPS officials on account of non-performance. Another employee, who was serving as an executive engineer for the Central Public Works Department, was fired after he failed to turn up for work for a whopping 24 years. 

Earlier, in 2015, around 900 government and public-sector firm employees were sacked, due to charges of corruption and misconduct.