Adarsh Probe: Deshmukh blames bureaucrats

NOW, it’s the turn of another powerful politician shifting blame to bureaucrats for reported wrongdoing. Former Maharashtra chief minister and current Union science and technology minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said he had signed on Adarsh file because...
senior bureaucrats wrote positive comments on it. Deshmukh said it while deposing before the judicial commission investigating the Adarsh scam.
Deshmukh’s argument is clear: how will a minister have any doubt if papers were verified by bureaucrats who wrote positive comments on the file. According to Deshmukh, the Adarsh papers were verified by officials from revenue and urban departments. Earlier, another former CM and current Union minister Sushilkumar Shinde had deposed before the judicial commission.

Ex-CBDT chairman for faster refund process
Former CBDT chairman Sudhir Chandra has argued in a recent TV show that the government should not treat unpaid refunds of taxpayers as revenue. “If you pay a hundred rupee note to a sabjiwala and buy vegetables worth rupee 98, he is to return you two rupee. He may take a minute or two while returning it. But he can’t treat it as his revenue,” Chandra said while arguing that the government should return the taxpayers’ money as early as possible. As CBDT chairman, Chandra championed the cause of issuing early refund last year creating turbulence within the system.

Action and Appointments
a) Neela Gangadharan, secretary, ministry of women and child development will review implementation of her ministry’s schemes through video conferencing with various states on July 27 and 28, 2012.
b) Sanjay Garg, a 1994 batch Kerala cadre IAS, has been appointed as director in department of economic affairs (DEA) under finance ministry.
c) Ms M Sudha Devi, a 2003 batch Himachal Pradesh cadre IAS, has been appointed as private secretary to the minister of state for health and family welfare S Gandhi SeIvan. She will hold the rank of a deputy secretary.
d) Anant Prakash Pandey, a 1999 batch Indian Forest Service officer of Haryana cadre, has been appointed as deputy secretary in the ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs.