When the coveted post of Chairman of the Tea Board of India became vacant with the last incumbent, Basudeb Banerjee’s term ending on October 18, 2010, Assam, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh fielded candidates. The appointment is made by the Ministry of Commerce and it has become a convention that the posts of Chairman and Vice-Chairman are filled alternately by senior IAS officers from the Assam and West Bengal cadres.
Since the last Chairman was from West Bengal, this time Assam laid claim. Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi recommended candidates from Assam and requested the Ministry and the PMO to choose the officers, who had a reputation for uprightness. His request went unheeded. The West Bengal Chief Minister’s Special Secretary, Subesh Das, had also applied for the post.
Now, the officers who had applied for the Chairman’s post have withdrawn their candidature and are looking for other postings. Commerce Minister Anand Sharma and Secretary Rahul Khullar could not even move the file as somebody in the PMO wanted his candidate (who is from neither West Bengal nor Assam) to bag the Chairman’s post. In this season of scams, wait for an update.
Pradip Baijal’s magic circle
Every so often, the media reports that the CBI is preparing to arrest former Telecom Regulatory Authority of India chief Pradip Baijal but it never comes about. If you are well-connected in the government and politics, nobody can touch you. While Baijal eludes the CBI net, Siddharth Behuria, former Secretary of Telecommunication, has been arrested. Baijal, a 1966-batch IAS officer from the MP cadre, got a term extension from 2003 to 2006. Post-retirement, he set up Noesis Strategic Consulting Company along with lobbyist Niira Radia. The firm’s client list boats Indian and MNC clients, foreign government regulators, the International Telecommunications Union, the World Bank and so on. He also serves on the boards of GVK, Nestle India and Patni Computers and is an independent consultant and adviser to several countries, including Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia. In 2010, Baijal’s homes and offices were raided in connection with the investigation into the RG spectrum scam. The CBI is reportedly restrained from arresting him. Though CBI officials are tight-lipped, it has emerged that there is a very senior leader in the UPA and a senior official in the government who see to this. Aha!
‘Ice Age’ freezes files in Mumbai
Now digest this. A whopping 800-odd files are awaiting administrative approval in Maharastra because full-time bureaucrats are yet to be appointed. This “Ice Age”, as it is being sarcastically referred to in the corridors of Mantralaya, dawned as a result of a series of transfers, retirements, and absentia.
Chief Secretary JP Dange was replaced with MMRDA metropolitan commissioner Ratnakar Gaikwad and, consequently, MMRDA additional metropolitan commissioner SVS Srinivas was given additional charge of the post Gaikwad had held. When the Managing Director of the City Industrial and Development Corporation (CIDCO), GS Gill, retired last year, SS Hussain was appointed. He too retired soon after. Now, CIDCO joint MD Tanaji Satre is holding additional charge as MD. Additional Chief Secretary Anna Dani is holding additional charge as Principal Secretary, Forests, while Sitaram B Kunte is on training leave.
Other posts awaiting full-time appointment include those of Investment Commissioner at Maharashtra Sadan in New Delhi, Secretary to the Deputy Chief Minister, Additional Chief Secretary, Agriculture, as well as those of Secretary to the departments of Energy, and Information and Technology.
Interestingly, after Gaikwad became Chief Secretary, his name was dragged into the Adarsh Society scam because, as MMRDA commissioner, he had handled the Adarsh file for some time. As for Dange, it is only now that he has been rehabilitated and is heading the 12th Finance Commission.
A case of crabs in a basket!
Is the apparent problem of governance in the UPA or in the PMO? The latter, it seems. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is obviously concerned and appears to know where the problem lies. So, there are moves in the PMO to shuffle faces or bring in new ones to assist the good doctor. Among the names being mentioned is that of Rahul Khullar, who is Secretary, Commerce. However, it is being pointed out in the same breath that Khullar, considered an upright officer, missed a chance to become Finance Secretary recently and many will be envious of seeing him ascending the ladder.
