30 officers granted an early retirement

Thirty directorate-grade officers have had their 12-months' advance notice of retirement waived, legislators were told.

Secretary for Civil Service Lam Woon-kwong said at least three of these officers had given less than one month's notice.

But he admitted that immigration chief Laurence Leung Ming-yin's notice of less than a week was the shortest in recent years.

According to a paper submitted by the Civil Service Branch, 209 retirement notices were given to the Government from April 1, 1994, and 30 were granted the waiver.

Civil service regulations stipulate a waiver would only be granted in exceptional cases where it is in the public interest and when there are adequate compassionate or personal grounds.

There are five circumstances for the waiver - degeneration in health; unanticipated changes in family circumstances; an officer's service is urgently required by a quasi-government body or public organisation and it is in the public interest; retirement plan overseas to tie in with children's education; and receipt of emigration visa requiring departure at short notice.