Extend job curbs on top civil servants, panel recommends

Top civil servants may face an extension of the restrictions on them taking up work after they retire - in contrast to politically appointed officials.

A government-appointed review committee yesterday recommended the most senior civil servants be required to seek approval before taking up work within five years of retiring; currently the period is three years. The next most senior civil service grades should seek approval for three years, up from two, the committee recommended.

However, the 12 government ministers and their deputies and political assistants must seek approval for employment for only a year after quitting the administration.

Former minister Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee said the proposal was unfair and punished civil servants. A trade union for civil servants said implementing it would dent its members' morale.

The committee was set up amid an outcry after former housing director Leung Chin-man was allowed to work for a property developer.

The committee noted the disparity in treatment between senior civil servants and the 33 political appointees and urged Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen to carry out a separate review of the curbs on appointees' post-service employment.