After UPSC, NITI Aayog to hire 55 Directly in Top positions

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

special report

After UPSC, NITI Aayog to hire 55 Directly in Top positions

First Time Large scale Lateral entrant as Joint Secretary & Above in Govt.

Harish Gupta

New Delhi, June 6

after the first batch of 10 highly qualified persons cleared for induction into the IAS directly through the UPSC, the Modi government is now getting ready to induct another 55 for lateral entry of experts into the civil service.

But this task has now been taken away from the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) and will be processed through the NITI Aayog, Modi's new Think Tank.

The 10 persons selected by the UPSC and interviewed and gone through the drill, will be shortly given the appointment letters which will be the first batch of lateral entry officers. The UPSC has sent the file to the DoPT. These have been selected in the rank of the joint secretaries.

According to highly-placed officials, the government plans to soon advertise for direct recruitment of more than four dozen positions in NITI Aayog at different levels, including directors, joint secretaries and even at the level of the additional secretaries, etc.

They will have a fixed salary of over Rs 3 lakhs and a minimum of five year tenure, say these sources. NITI Aayog and other bodies have been hiring consultants on contracts at whims and fancies until now. Now these new posts would be at par with regular government servants.

The NITI Aayog has already identified the areas in which talent is required. Initially, there will be 55 positions. But these can go upto 500 plus top ranking vacancies.

The proposed advertisement for these posts is engaging the attention of the Department of Personnel under the PMO as it is being done at the large scale and talent is being drawn from the private sector on the basis of performance and other qualifications.

The PM has been inducting highly qualified professionals even in the rank of the secretaries in Aayush, Sanitation and other key departments.

These secretaries have a fixed tenure and outside the seniority level of the regular bureaucracy. But the advertisements for the 55 posts would be out either this month end of July.

These posts are recognised as ‘flexi-pool posts’, for which the NITI Aayog usually hires consultants as needed.

After the initial period of five years, their work will be revalued and given further appointment for three years.

Modi clips CVC wings

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

Exculsive

Modi clips CVC wings

DOPT says it’s a recommendatory body only

Makes it a toothless

Harish Gupta

New Delhi, April 3: 

The Modi government is all set to make the Central Vigilance Commission a toothless body as it plans to bring a new vigilance law. A prelude to government’s thinking was reflected when the Department of Personnel & Training (DOPT) under the Prime Minister relaxed rules pertaining to Vigilance clearance for senior government officers under the  central government.

The significant change was made through an innocuous order buried under the mêlée of notifications issued by the DOPT in the service rules. The new order says adverse observations made by the CVC against officers pertaining to their conduct will not be binding on the department concerned. Until  now, the recommendations made by the CVC against the officers for their alleged misconduct are binding and can be over-turned only by the CVC or the tribunals or courts.

But the government has decided to clip the wings of the CVC in one go and that too quietly. The government is of the view that creation of one body after the other to punish the erring officials has only delayed justice and put road blocks into good governance. In any case, the Prevention of Corruption Act is of 1988 vintage and changes are needed in this regard. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has strongly advocated a new law in this regard.

The DOPT’s new rule stipulates that the department will have the prerogative whether to accept the recommendation of the CVC or not. However, the department will have to keep the Union Public Service Commission posted with the decision in the event of over-turning the recommendations of the CVC. It is clear from the new situation that the it will be for the department alone to ahead with lower level of punishment or penalty than recommended by the CVC.

The department concerned have been empowered to drop the charges altogether and it will only have to inform the CVC that it has decided to drop the charges. In the event of the CVC again deciding to insist on penalizing the concerned erring officer, the case will go to the DOPT  for the final decision.  

An office memorandum issued this month by the DoPT makes it clear: “All cases, where the Disciplinary Authority (of a department) decides to impose a penalty after conclusion of the proceedings and where UPSC consultation is required as per existing rules/instructions, shall not be referred to the CVC for second stage consultation.” The relaxation, however, will not be applicable to officers of banks and state-run organisations.

The DoPT order is significant because earlier, the case of a corrupt officer would be referred to the CVC for inquiry. Once the CVC had given its recommendation either way, the department concerned was supposed to accept it in toto. But not under the new rules issued where the cobcerned department can reject the finding.