If top sources are to be believed, only officers  attaining the age of 57 will be empanelled as Secretary in the Government of India.It means Secretary will not be appointed for a short period. Indication to this effect is appointment of 1985 batch IAS officer Ajay Kumar as Secretary Defence.

Whisper has it that the Government of India is preparing two lists of Secretary level appointment. One list of appointments is expected to be issued before the festival of lights and second one after ?

Due to increased work load, one more JS likely to be posted in MHA. If the ministry gets one more JS, the officer is likely to be posted in J&K Affairs cell. Presently, the cell has only one JS but additional has been given to some JS.

Saurav Kumar Jaipuriyar, Principal Accountant General (Audit)-III, Maharashtra, Mumbai, has been transferred and posted as Principal Accountant General (Audit)-I, Maharashtra, Mumbai. He is a 1992 batch IA&AS officer.

With the retirement of present incumbent CMDE A N Sonsole as Chairman-cum-Managing Director, the NEPA Limited is going to be Boardless with effect from November 1, 2019. The tenure of Sonsole is coming to an end on October 31, 2019.

Govt is going to re -organise Rail Bhawan (RB). This will be done on the recommendations of Debroy Committee report which was submitted about three years ago. According to report, now Board will have less officers. More than 50 officers will be placed at Zonal level. These officers are Director and above levels. Debroy Committee was set up when NDA govt came into power in 2014.

Only Board Member: S K Jha, Director, MIDHANI, is said to be in the race for the post of Chairman-cum-Managing Director, Mishra Dhatu Nigam Limited (MIDHANI).

One IAS officer out of total three belonging to 1987 batch from Himachal Pradesh cadre has been empanelled for holding Secretary and Secretary equivalent posts in Government of India.

Mukul Goel is new ADG BSF Academy Tekenpur in Gwalior. He is 1987 batch IPS officer of UP cadre.

Rajesh Bhushan has been empanelled for holding Secretary level posts in Government of India. He is a 1987 batch IAS officer of Bihar cadre.

The tenure of Sudhanshu Pandey on central deputation working as Additional Secretary, Department of Commerce has been updated till August 31, 2020. He is a 1987 batch IAS officer of J&K cadre.

Rajiv Aggarwal, Joint Secretary, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, has been given premature repatriation to his parent cadre in order to avail of promotion. He is a 1993 batch IAS officer of UP cadre.

Rachna Shah has been empanelled for holding Additional Secretary level posts in Government of India. Shah is a 1991 batch IAS officer of Kerala cadre.

The post of S K Dev Verman, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Minority Affairs, has been upgraded to the level of Additional Secretary. He is a 1988 batch IAS officer of Manipur cadre.

The post of Praveen K Srivastava, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, has been upgraded to the level of Additional Secretary. He is a 1988 batch IAS officer of Assam-Meghalaya cadre.

The post of Ms Ansuli Arya, Administer, Universal Service Obligation Fund, Department of Telecommunications, has been upgraded to the level of Additional Secretary. She is a 1989 batch IAS officer of Bihar cadre.

The post of Tallen Kumar, Chief Executive Officer, Government e-Marketplace Special Purpose Vehicle, has been upgraded to the level of Additional Secretary. He is a 1989 batch IAS officer of West Bengal cadre.

The post of Dharam Pal, Joint Secretary, Department of Fertilizers, has been upgraded to the level of Additional Secretary. He is a 1988 batch IAS officer of UT cadre.

The post of Aramane Giridhar, Joint Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, has been upgraded to the level of Additional Secretary. He is a 1988 batch IAS officer of AP cadre.

The post of Tarun Bajaj, Joint Secretary, Prime Minister's Office (PMO), has been upgraded to the level of Additional Secretary. He is a 1988 batch IAS officer of Haryana cadre.

The post of Madhukar Gupta, Joint Secretary, Department of Public Enterprises, has been upgraded to the level of Additional Secretary. He is a 1985 batch IAS officer of Rajasthan cadre.

The post of S M Alexander, Additional Secretary, Department of Atomic Energy, has been downgraded to the level of Joint Secretary. He is a 1987 batch IPoS officer.

The post of Anoop Srivastava, Additional Secretary & Financial Advisor, Department of Space, has been downgraded to the level of Joint Secretary. He is a 1989 batch IDAS officer.

Debasish Prusty is yet to take charge as Deputy Chief of Mission at Embassy of India in Belgium.The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet had appointed Debasish Prusty as Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of India in Brussels on July 23, 2019. He is an IAS officer of Rajasthan cadre of 2000 batch.

Kapil Sharma is yet to join as Second Secretary at the Embassy of India in Kyiv, Ukraine.

Government will need to inform stock exchanges about the top level Board and senior management changes in merging banks which are listed with stock exchanges.

Hardeep Singh Balhara has been promoted to the grade of Executive Director in Airports Authority of India (AAI).

Sushil Pal has been appointed as Chief Controller of Accounts in the Ministry of Home Affairs after promotion. He is a 1999 batch ICAS officer.

The Jharkhand Government has assigned new postings to six Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers.Accordingly, L Khiyangate , Director General Sri Krishna Public Administration Academy has been posted as Additional Chief Secretary, Energy Department with additional charge as CMD, Energy Development Corporation, Vipra Bhal has been posted as Registrar and Director General with additional charge as Director, Land Acquisition, Anil Kumar Singh , Director, Sports , had been given additional charge as Additional Director, Administration, (RIMS), Rajeev Ranjan had been made Director, Urban Administration, Mritunjay Kumar Varnaval has been posted as Divisional Commissioner, Simdega,Varun Ranjan has been posted as Divisional Commissioner, Sahebganj.

The Central Government has re-nominated Dr K Ramesha as Part-time Non Official Director of Union Bank of India for a period of one year or until the amalgamation of the Bank i.e. March, 2020. 

Election Commission of India has appointed Vinod Zutshi ( former IAS Raj Retd), former Deputy Election Commissioner ECI and Secretary Tourism, as Special Observer for the ensuing Elections to 23 – Assandh Assembly Constituency of Karnal District in Haryana .

Bank of Baroda has appointed Biju Varkkey as Part-time Non-official Director on the Board of the Bank.

Nalin Atul has been appointed as Additional Commissioner of Public Instruction, Kalaburagi and Mrs Poovitha was made Joint MD, KUIDFC, Bengaluru with additional charge of Joint Director (Reforms), Karnataka Municipal Data Society, Bengaluru in Karnataka.

The Central Government has re-nominated G. Ramesh and Ms Vandana Kumari Jena as Part-time Non-official Directors on the Board of Directors of Syndicate bank for a period of one year, or until the amalgamation of the bank i.e. March 31, 2020.

Central Government has re-nominated Gautam Guha as Part-Time Non-Official Director of Allahabad Bank for a period of one year or until the amalgamation of the Bank i.e. March 31, 2020.

The Board of Directors of Kotak Mahindra Bank has appointed Paul Parambi as the Chief Risk Officer (CRO) of the Bank w.e.f  November 1, 2019.

Postal Officer, Ms Sunita Singh has been appointed as Deputy Director, Official Language in the Department of Posts.

Sanjay Kumar Jha, Director (Production & Marketing), has been selected for the post of Chairman-cum-Managing Director, Mishra Dhatu Nigam Limited (MIDHANI) at a Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) meeting held on October 22, 2019. As many as six persons were interviewed for the same.

(We said this on July 26, Oct 21 & 22, 2019)

The Central Government has re-nominated S. Raghunath as Part-time Non-official director on the Board of Directors of Canara Bank for a period of one year, or until the amalgamation of the bank i.e. March 31, 2020

Braj Raj Sharma has been appointed as Chairman, Staff Selection Commission in the rank of Secretary. He is a 1984 batch IAS officer of J&K cadre.

Sanjeev Gupta has been appointed as Secretary, Inter State Council Secretariat. He is a 1985 batch IAS officer of HP cadre.

Sailesh has been appointed as Secretary, Department of Public Enterprises. He is a 1985 batch IAS officer of Assam-Meghalaya cadre.

Alok Tandon has been appointed as Secretary, Department of Administratie Reforms and Public Grievances with additional charge of Pensisons and Pensioners Welfare. He is a 1986 batch IAS officer of UP cadre.

Sanjeev Nandan Sahai has been appointed as Secretary, Ministry of Power. He is a 1986 batch IAS officer of UT cadre.

Pramod Kumar Das has been appointed s Secretary, Ministry of Minority Affairs. He is a 1986 batch IAS officer of MP cadre.

Nagendra Nath Sinha has been appointed as Secretary, Department of Border Management. He is a 1987 batch IAS officer of Jharkhand cadre.

Tuhin Kanta Pandey has been appointed as Secretary, Department of Investment and Public Asset Management. He is a 1987 batch IAS officer of Orissa cadre.

Pankaj Kumar has been appointed as CEO, Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) in the Secretary rank. He is a 1987 batch IAS officer of Nagaland cadre.

Rajesh Bhushan has been appointed as Secretary (Coordination), Cabinet Secretariat. He is a 1987 batch IAS officer of Bihar cadre.

The post of Arun Singhal has been upgraded as Special Secretary, Department of Health and Family Welfare. He is a 1987 batch IAS officer of UP cadre.

The post of V P Joy as Director General of Hydrocarbons has been upgraded to Secretary rank. He is a 1987 batch IAS officer of Kerala cadre.

The post of Sunil Kumar has been upgraded as Special Secretary, Department of Commerce. He is a 1987 batch IAs officer of UP cadre.

Post of Tallen Kumar as Chief Executive Officer, Government e-Marketplace Special Purpose Vehicle, has been upgraded to Secretary level. He is a 1987 batch IAS officer of West Bengal cadre.

The post of Rajiv Ranjan as Director General, National Mission for Clean Gang has been upgraded to Secretary level. He is a 1987 batch IAS officer of Telangana cadre.

The post of Pradip Kumar Tripathi has been upgraded as Special Secretary & Establishment officer, Department of Personnel and Training. He is a 1987 batch IAS officer of J&K cadre.

The post of Raj Kumar as Director General, Employees' State Insurance Corporation has been upgraded to Secretary level. He is a 1987 batch IAS officer of Gujarat cadre.

The post of Barun Mitra has been upgraded as Special Secretary, Department of Defence Production. He is a 1987 batch IAS officer of Manipur cadre.

The post of Praveen Kumar has been upgraded as Special Secretary, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. He is a 1987 batch IAS officer of Tamil Nadu cadre.

The post of Manoj Jhalani has been upgraded as Special Secretary, Department of Health and Family Welfare. He is a 1987 batch IAS officer of MP cadre.

The post of Ms Vasudha Mishra has been upgraded as Special Secretary, Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers' Welfare. She is a 1987 batch IAS officer of Telangana cadre.

The post of Ms Leena Nandan has been upgraded as Special Secretary, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. She is a 1987 batch IAS officer of UP cadre.

The post of Pravir Krishna as MD, Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India Limited has been upgraded to Secretary level. He is a 1987 batch IAS officer of MP cadre.

As many as 10 IAS officers from 1984 batch to 1987 batches have been appointed as Secretaries in Government of India.

(We said this in the morning of Oct 22, 2019)

The posts of 13 Additional Secretaries of 1987 batch empanelled as Secretaries have been upgraded to Secretary and Special Secretary level in Government of India.

(We said this in the morning of Oct 22, 2019)

Akhauri Rajesh Sinha, the Principal Group Adviser to Power Trading Corporation of India has been appointed as Chairman of Jindal Power Ltd.

Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Limited has appointed Hari P R Director (Personnel) of the company.

Honeywell Automation India Limited has appointed  Akshay Bellare and  Ashish Modi as Additional Directors of the company.

Mrs Renuka Ramnath has decided to quit as Independent Director UltraTech Cement.

Surendra Bahadur Singh has quit as Independent Director of K.M.Sugar Mills.

Sandeep Khandelwal has quit as Chief Financial Officer of Supreme Infrastructure India Limited.

Atlas shrugged

"Why can't IAS officers stand upto the politician ?" I forget how many times this question has been put to me, mostly by journalists, but also by businessmen/women, venerable judges, friends and scientists.

I for one have never spare a single opportunity to point out ills of our systems whenever I encounter one. In fact, i have recorded my views in my two books, if anyone cares to read them. Whenever I do so, if the issue is important enough, I request my journalist friends to carry my views in their newspapers ( I do not know anyone in the TV world - not that any sensible person watches tv news anymore. ). My request is never honoured. One senior journalist was frank enough to tell me the reason - the management/editor will not approve your views to be printed in the paper. Why they not stand upto their editors? I write only facts and the truth. As I have narrated earlier, during one election i found a very senior journalist covering election meetings in a car provided by the Chief Minister. Then you expect him to stand up to that Chief Minister? In the same magazine, a journalist had written about some hanky-panky by a controversial but influential officer. He got a message from the editor to not repeat that mistake. Shortly he was eased out. I have met only one Rambo journalist, namely Arun Shourie. We all know about how he stood upto Indira Gandhi during the emergency and what work he did in the Bofor's case, just to name a few. As my minister in disinvestment also i have seen him stand upto to his corrupt colleagues. I find no other example.

During my disinvestment days i saw the business world from very close quarters. Few cases will elaborate. One very young bright lawyer came with his boss ( Top 5 law firms ) for a discussion. I knew this boy to be of integrity. The boss tried to bullshit me with some wrong legal advise. I thought the junior would atleast point out that what i was saying was correct. He kept mum, though he appeared uneasy. Of course, i rejected his bosses suggestion. Meeting over, they left. Later, the boy comes to me and says " Sir, you were absolutely right but i cannot contradict my boss.". Why he could not stand upto his boss? When we were selling balance shares of a very big company, the CA firm was trying to hoodwink government by giving a low share price. I told him that this won't do. He says " Sir what to do? My partner says that the private partner has asked us not to cross a certain price. I told him " If the private partner is angry he would not give you future business but if i catch you acting smart government will give you a room in Tihar. Now you chose.". Worked. Always does. Why couldn't this mighty CA firm stand upto one businessman ?

Scientists. As Agriculture Secretary i have seen a DG, ICAR who used to succumb to every wrong request of some netas. Every other scientist kept silent. Those scientists who stood up, like Dr Swapan Dutta, a renowned geneticist, suffered. Even after he was recommended for a very important position by the highest authorities, he was denied the job.

About judges, whatever i say may be construed as contempt. Therefore, I'll only mention the 4-1 verdict in the ADM Jabalpur case and the reasons and fallout of it.

And then there is other thing about diluting the service by allowing entry at advanced ages. By the time they come into the IAS, they have served in one or more places and become "worldly wise". Their number would be around 10 %. So this sizeable chunk is available to the leader to fill up all the key positions. The balance 90 % are at the periphery of governance and hence no opportunity of conflict ever arises. Public does not see them ever.

So, we have one Arun Shourie, one Swapan Dutta. But we have Seshan, Lyngdoh, Sunder, EAS Sarma, Abhash Chatterjee, M N Buch, S V Bhave, V S Dubey, D Bandopadhya, S Ramasubramanium, R K Nair, V K Shunglu and hordes of others who stood upto politicians, and the younger generation of IAS officers, who are still doing so. It is impossible for 5000 IAS officers to carry the burden of all others. We are not descendents of Atlas. Unless everybody stands up to wrong doing this nation cannot be numero uno. And if even with an honest and patriotic Prime Minister we can't do it, then God help us all !

P K Basu IAS (R)

Former Secretary Agriculture, GoI

Former Member, Central Administrative Tribunal

Share some information on grant of HAG NFU

Yes , would request 'Whispers in the corridors' to share some information/whispers regarding issue of orders for grant of HAG NFU to 1988 Group A services. It is has been inordinately delayed by DoPT ? Is it a deliberate action.

V K Jain

Action taken report on a complaint

The appellant had filed a complaint vide letter dated 09.06.2017 addressed to Hon’ble HRD Minister and sought an action taken report in regard to above said letter under RTI Act. The PIO, MHRD submitted that the said complaint dated 09.06.2017 was forwarded to UGC vide letter no. F.No.5-4/2017-U.II dated 30.06.2017 and the appellant was informed accordingly on 10.01.2018. The PIO, UGC submitted that an appropriate reply was given vide letter dated 09.02.2018 stating that the said complaint dated 09.06.2017 was not received by them. The appellant submitted that he did not receive any relevant information from the PIO. The CIC observed that both the PIOs, UGC and MHRD, have handled the RTI application very poorly. Both the PIOs are required to provide information as per the availability of record. Hence, the CPIO MHRD should provide complete notings in respect of the processing of the complaint dated 09.06.2017. Moreover, the CPIO UGC should also re- examine the records and provide the present status of the complaint dated 09.06.2017. In case no action was taken a categorical reply should be provided.

Comments

If an appellant seeks the action taken report under the RTI Act in respect of the complaint filed by him, the same should be provided in the form of file notings or correspondence made. The inspection of the respective file should be provided rather than sleeping over the letter.

Citation: Sanjay Sharma v. CPIO, Ministry of Human Resource Development and CPIO, University Grants Commission (UGC) in Decision no.: CIC/MOHRD/A/2018/119376/01617, Date of Decision: 13/09/2019

Dr. Anuradha Verma (dranuradhaverma@yahoo.co.in) is an expert on RTI matters and has co-authored the books RIGHT TO INFORMATION - LAW AND PRACTICE and PIO’s guide to RTI. Her other articles can be read at the website of RTI Foundation of India at the link: - Right to Information Act 2005- RTI Foundation of India

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