Vacancy galore in CIC, RTI appeals piling up, PMO cool

Harish Gupta
New Delhi, July 19

The NaMo administration seems to be in no hurry to fill the vacancies in the Central Information Commission, a watch dog body implementing the key  weapon in the hands of the citizens.

While the four vacancies of Information Commissioners already exist in the , two more are falling vacant. Chief Information Commissioner Vimal Julka (Retd IAS) is completing his tenure this month whereas Member Divya Prakash Sinha (Retd IPS) will be completing his term in the month of September. The CIC is an autonomous 11-member body and with six post vacant the pendency will go up further.

The Opposition parties are already making an allegation that NaMo administration is not keen for transparency in governance and weakening the institutions.

Similarly, there is a vacancies galore in other tribunals and boards and corporations. But when it comes to filling vacancy in the Vigilance Commission of a Commissioner, the government is moving with alacrity.

The Ministry of Personnel has issued a pro forma for the application for the post of VC that asks the applicants to “indicate your suitability assessments for the post (in not more than 300 words)” among others. One post of VC will fall vacant in October this year. But vacancy has already advertised. It may be mentioned that Chief Vigilance Commissioner is Sanjay Kothari who was till the other day was Secretary to the President. Sharad Kumar and Suresh N Patel are two Vigilance Commissioners.

Kumar is due to complete his term in October this year and the vacancy will be filled by appointing a new VC, said the Personnel Ministry order. The Vigilance Commissioner shall hold office for a term of four years or until the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier. But despite a vacancy galore in the CIC, there is no move to fill the vacancies. Then there are vacancies in the NCLAT where the chairman has just been given an extension of three months as search for a successor has not begun as yet.

Babus unwilling to come on Central deputations

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

Babus unwilling to come on Central deputations

Harish Gupta

New Delhi, Nov. 7

The Babus, IAS, IPS and other officers of Central services are unwilling to come to Delhi to serve the NaMo administration.

Be it Maharashtra or Modi’s own state of Gujrat, the story continues to be the same. The Babus don’t want to serve in Delhi and are happy to be in the cozy environment of the states. Surprisingly, the Central deputation under the central staffing scheme (CSS) in 2018-19 was lowest in the last five years as only 153 IAS officers were appointed on central deputation.

Maharashtra had a quota of 78 officers to be placed at the disposal of the Centre. But only 24 were sent by the state on the ground of paucity of officers. The case of Gujrat was no different when only 17 showed in contrast to the quota of 64. (see the table). As many as 340 IAS officers were appointed under the CSS during 2014-15 and 320 in 2015-16 and 247 during 2016-17. This number came down to 211 during 2017-18. The number is falling at the alarming rate as per the official data available.

Surprisingly, the trend was encouraging in earlier years for the Indian Revenue services (IRS) and Indian Postal Services (IPS). But that started sliding. For example, the IRS & IPS as many as 196 appointments were made under the CSS in 2014-15. This rose to 237 on central deputation in 2015-16 and 246 in 2016-17. But it fell to 171 in 2017-18 and 195 in 2018-19, the data said.

The total authorised strength of IAS officers is 6,500 as on January 1, 2019, and the CDR is 1,381. Out of these 1,381 IAS officers, there were 507 IAS officers working at the Centre. UP was supposed to sent 134 officer. But it spared only 44.

Major shake up in the bureaucracy, dozens affected

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

Major shake up in the bureaucracy, dozens affected

Harish gupta

new delhi, oct 22

In a major overhaul of the bureaucracy, the NaMo administration made nearly two dozen changes at the level of the secretary and upgraded/downgraded the posts of dozen odd officers of the level of joint secretaries.

Braj Raj Sharma (IAS:1984:JK) was appointed Chairman, Staff Selection Commission and moved away as Secretary, Department of Border Management (MHA). Sanjeev Gupta (IAS:1985:HP) appointed (in-situ) as Secretary, Inter State Council Secretariat, Ministry of Home Affairs while Sailesh was appointed as Secretary, Department of Public Enterprises. Presently, Sailesh is Secretary, Ministry of Minority Affairs. Alok Tandon, an officer of the UP cadre was appointed as Secretary, Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances. In his new assignment he will hold the additional charge of the post of Secretary, Department of Pensions and Pensioners Welfare. Presently, he is serving as Chairman Noida Authority. Sanjeev Nandan Sahai (IAS:1986:UT) appointed (In-situ) as Secretary, Ministry of Power vice Subhash Chandra Garg (IAS:1983:RJ) who retires on October 31. Sahai is working as Special Secretary, Ministry of Power.

Pramod Kumar Das (IAS:1986:MP) appointed as Secretary, Ministry of Minority Affairs. Presently, he is Special Secretary, Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance.

Nagendra Nath Sinha (IAS:1987:JH) who was Chairman, NHAI under Nitin Gadkari has been sent as Secretary, Department of Border Management (MHA).

Tuhin Kanta Pandey was appointed as Secretary, Department of Investment and Public Asset Management in place of Anil Kumar Khachi who was repatriated to Himachal.

Pankaj Kumar of Nagaland cadre, is the new CEO, Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) in the rank and pay of Secretary by temporarily upgrading the post. Presently, he is Additional Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. Rajesh Bhushan was appointed (In-situ) as Secretary (Coordination) in the Cabinet Secretariat.

Pravir Krishna, MD, TRIFED in the rank and pay of Secretary.

Further, over a dozen of IAS officers belonging to 1987 batch of IAS were elevated (In-situ) as Special Secretary in the rank and pay of Secretary (GoI), in their respective ministries/departments presently serving in the rank of Additional Secretary. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet extended the upgradation/downgradation about 12 joint secretaries.

P K Sinha's designation of Principal Advisor puzzles

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

P K Sinha's designation of Principal Advisor puzzles 

Bureaucrats see a Reason 

Harish Gupta

New Delhi, Sep 16

Nothing is without a logic in the NaMo administration and puzzled top bureaucrats at the Centre have realized it now. The PM coined a new designation of Principal Advisor for P K Sinha while appointing him in the PMO. The designation is unheard of in the PMO for the past 70 years and people are still guessing why. While Dr P K Mishra's elevation as Principal Secretary was on expected lines, P K Sinha's appointment continues to baffle as there are many firsts.

Sinha is probably the first Cabinet Secretary to be moved to the PMO after serving for more than four years in the position. Insiders in the know of things in the government say that Cabinet Secretary is the senior most bureaucrat in the hierarchy and he could not have been made Additional Principal Secretary under Dr P K Mishra in the PMO.

Since the PM had decided to shake up the PMO, he needed a senior bureaucrat known for his integrity. After holding the highest post in bureaucracy, he could have been designated only as Principal Advisor.

This is how the PM showed his innovative skills and became unconventional and named Sinha as Principal Adviser. Secondly, drafting Sinha in the advisory role would provide him a wide canvas to give his advice to the PM on policy, implementation and coordination with different ministries and department. His role would not be restricted to merely infrastructure as was earlier whispered. Secondly, it would rule out any possibility of who is number One or Number two in the PMO.

Both, PK Mishra and PK Sinha would work together without stepping into the territories and domain of each other. Of course, P K Mishra would continue to handle the sensitive appointments as in-charge of the ACC. All files will be routed through P K Misha and there will be single line of command. Ajit Doval, National Security Adviser, to the PM has his role cut out. But even he will now have to adjust to a new system.

It is also learnt that Bhaskar Kulbe who is functioning as secretary to the PM and reporting to P K Mishra may get a fresh term. His extended term is ending on September 30 this year. It is likely that his term be extended co-terminus with the PM or earlier whichever is earlier.

Ends