Bureaucratic Reshuffle in Haryana: V Umashankar is new additional principal secretary to CM; Ashima Brar appointed as nodal officer of Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao

BLACKBUCK: Haryana's state animal

IN A major bureaucratic rejig, the Haryana government on Monday transferred 17 IAS officers, among others from the state civil services. Ashima Brar, 2004 batch IAS, will be the new deputy principal secretary to Haryana chief minister and also the nodal officer of Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao programme. Meanwhile, the CEO of Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority, V Umashankar, has been appointed as additional principal secretary to CM of Haryana. Here below are the details of 11 of the appointments: 

10 new joint secretaries appointed; four railway officers figure in the list

THE government on Tuesday issued an order appointing 10 officers as joint secretaries or joint secretary-equivalent out of whom five belong to IAS and the rest being non-IAS (one from Indian Ordnance Factories Service and four belonging to various railway services). The key appointments include lateral shifting of Amardeep Singh Bhatia, 1993 batch Nagaland cadre IAS, as Director (JS level) of Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) and appointing Ashish Upadhyay, 1989 batch Madhya Pradesh cadre IAS, as joint secretary in the ministry of coal. Here below are the 10 orders of new JS appointments:

2 IRS officers — Vrunda Desai, Virendra Ojha receive accolades for their sporting talents

Vrunda Desai

TWO IRS-IT officers, Ms Vrunda Desai and Virendra Ojha, have come into the limelight within the revenue service officers’ community after their outstanding display of sporting talents recently. Vrunda Desai, a 2003 batch IRS-IT officer has recently won gold medals in two pistol events in All India Revenue Shooting competition, and Ojha who stunned many by completing…

2 premature repatriations including one of home minister’s PS; also 1 extension, 1 additional charge

A DAY before the Diwali, the Central government issued a number of orders including two premature repatriations, one extension of Central deputation tenure and bestowing of additional charge of the post of a Union secretary. The one of the repatriations was that of the private secretary of union home minister Rajnath Singh. Here below are the details of the 4 orders:

23 IFoS officers empanelled as GoI joint secretary; Full list

THE government has empanelled as many as 23 officers belonging to Indian Forest Service (IFoS) for holding the post of Government of India joint secretary. Out of them, nine belonged to 1991 batch, 10 from 1992 batch and another four from 1993 batch. Here are the names of 23 IFoS officers:

Who is GK Dwivedi? And why are his colleagues lobbying for the revocation of his suspension?

(Representative image)

IN AN unusual move, as many as 15 joint secretaries working in the ministry of home affairs (MHA) met home minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday to plead for Gopal Krishna Dwivedi, also an IAS officer, suspended last week for renewing the FCRA licence to controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Nair's Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) even though there were pending cases against his organization. The group of joint secretaries reportedly told the home minister that Dwivedi is an honest officer, and the decision to suspend him would demoralize other officers. But who is Dwivedi?…

IRS-IT officer Sardar Singh Meena debarred from Central deputation; IFoS officer on compulsory wait

IN GOVERNMENT, individual officers can’t decide their own postings. The government issues an appointment or transfer order and whether an individual officers likes that post for not, there is no option but to take up the post. But in a few cases, officers refuse to accept a posting. In one such case, IRS-IT officer of…

Know Your Babu: 2 new cabinet secretariat JS, Tuhin Kant Pandey and Deepti Umashankar

Deepti Umashankar, IAS

CABINET secretariat has recently got two new faces, 1987 batch Odisha cadre IAS Tuhin Kant Pandey, currently in Planning Commission and 1993 batch Haryana cadre IAS Deepti Umashankar, now in DoPT. One is an MBA from a UK school, and the other knows French! Let’s know more about these two officers: Pandey and Umashankar.

Haryana IAS Sukriti Likhi to return home; new vacancy for counsellor (economic) in Washington DC

Sukriti Likhi

DEPUTY secretary and director-level officers may apply for the post of counsellor (economic) in the economic wing of embassy of India in Washington DC, as the term of 1993 batch Haryana cadre IAS Sukriti Likhi is ending soon. Like many a mistake in the past, (Read: DoPT mistakes), the DoPT circular dated April 28, 2014, termed Mrs Likhi as a…

India’s deputy chief of mission in Saudi Arabia Sibi George gets 3rd SK Singh Award

Sibi George, 1993 batch IFS and deputy chief of mission of Indian embassy in Saudi Arabia, received the 3rd S.K. Singh Award for Excellence in Indian Foreign Service presented in New Delhi on Thursday. But unlike the previous years of this award function, neither the Congress president Sonia Gandhi nor vice-president Rahul Gandhi was present on the occasion, understandably due to…

Why this MP cadre IAS officer repeatedly threatens to self immolate?

Ramesh Thete, a 1993 batch Madhya Pradesh cadre IAS officer, hogged the limelight in January this year when he announced he would self immolate in front of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) if he was not reinstated from service by February 5, 2011. After he got reinstated in service, Thete has now again threatened to self immolate if he does not get a promotion, according to local media reports. 51-year-old Thete, originally hailing from Maharashtra, is now posted as director of the Narmada Valley Development Authority (NVDA).

Thete was dismissed from service as a sequel to a bribery case dated back to 2002. The principal of a technical institute in MP complained against him saying Thete had demanded a bribe of Rs 1 lakh, but the officer was acquitted by courts. Then dismissed officer claimed that he was hounded because he is a Dalit officer.

Now, Thete has asked the government to immediately constitute Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC) so that he gets his promotion which he claims an overdue. In a letter to principal secretary Deepak Khandekar, Thete reportedly mentioned that he would self immolate if he was denied his promotion.

Action and Appointments

a) Mugdha Sinha, a 1999 batch Rajasthan cadre IAS, has been appointed as Officer-on Special Duty (OSD) against the sanctioned post of private secretary in the personal establishment of minister of textile Anand Sharma. Ms Sinha will hold the rank of a deputy secretary.

b) The government has cancelled its earlier order of appointing T Srinidhi, a 1979 batch Central Secretariat Service officer as Director, Institute of Secretariat Training and Management. Instead, it has now appointed KG Verma, a 1995 batch Central Secretariat Service officer as its director.

Dismissed IAS officer Ramesh Thete threatens self-immolation in front of PMO

AN IAS officer of 1993 batch Ramesh Thete, who was dismissed from services in connection with a bribery case, has reportedly threatened self immolation in front of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) if he was not reinstated by February 5.
According to a section of media reports, originating from Jabalpur of Madhya Pradesh, Thete was upset as he believed he was hounded because he is a Dalit officer. The bribery dates back to 2002 when the principal of a technical institute complained against him of demanding Rs one lakh bribe. The IAS officer has now claimed that he was not reinstated even though both the Supreme Court and the High Court had acquitted him.
He had further claimed that the Union law ministry had earlier cleared his file of reinstating.

CVC recommends major penalty proceedings against 226 officers
The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has advised imposition of major penalty against 226 officers including 50 from the department of communications, 36 from central board of excise and customs, 23 from ministry of railways, 13 from State Bank of India, 10 from Vijaya Bank, 9 from Punjab and Sind Bank, 8 from MCD, 7 from Andhra Bank, 6 from Canara Bank, 5 each from Allahabad Bank, Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd and UCO Bank. Remaining 31 cases pertained to different departments of the Government of India and PSUs.

Action and Appointments
a) Amit Cowshish, a 1977 batch IDAS officer, presently additional financial advisor in the ministry of defence (finance) has been appointed as Financial Advisor (acquisition) and Member (Defence Procurement Board) and additional secretary, ministry of defence in the rank of pay of additional secretary in place of S Chandrasekaran, a 1975 batch IRAS.
b) The government has decided for premature repatriation of S Chandrasekaran, a 1975 batch IRAS, Financial Advisor (acquisition) and Member (defence procurement board) to his cadre with immediate effect.
c) Ramesh Krishnamurthi, a 1992 batch IRS-IT, has been appointed as director in the Department of Economic Affairs, New Delhi.
d) The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the repatriation of Madhav Lal, a 1977 batch JK cadre IAS, presently additional secretary and development commissioner in the ministry of micro small and medium enterprises to his cadre.

Countdown To Civil Services Day: 3 MP IAS selected for PM’s award for excellence

LAST year, a section of national press picked up a story of a BSF havildar’s son from Jammu who as the collector of Balaghat district of Madhya Pradesh imbibed the Naxal tactics of wooing the impoverished villagers and used the same against them. The man who was determined to break the Maoists’ hold over ordinary citizens of the district, organized medical camps and meetings in Naxal-infested district before becoming an icon among villagers of the district.

Yes, Gulshan Bamra, a 1997 batch IAS officer who is presently the collector for Jabalpur, is one of the three IAS officers being selected for the prestigious Prime Minister’s award for excellence award to be presented at a function in New Delhi on April 21 to mark the Civil Services Day. Significantly, 37 year-old Bamra will get the award for “Involvement of community under National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in Naxalite-affected areas in Madhya Pradesh.”

The other two officers of the state who have also been selected for the award are 1977 batch MP cadre IAS OP Rawat (Picture on Right)  who is now an additional chief secretary of the state, and Sanjay Dubey (Picture on Left), a 1993 batch IAS currently serving as CEO in Madhya Pradesh Rural Road Development Authority.

Mr Rawat who has masters degree both in physics and economics had earlier served as director and then joint secretary in Union defence ministry. He is now receiving the award for implementation of a forest rights act.

Sanjay Dubey who was an engineer by profession before joining IAS, will receive the award for removal of encroachments of structures of different religions and yet maintaining communal harmony in Madhya Pradesh.

Why is Bir so angry?

JS Bir, a senior IAS officer of Punjab cadre and secretary in general administration department (GAD) of the state expressed his angst against government's failure to remove 'corruption in the system' which led to his 'humiliation and mental trauma'. This is what the IAS officer wrote to Punjab chief secretary and chief minister in his letter seeking voluntary retirement. Who will take Bir seriously?

IAS officers reportedly sabotage a fellow IAS receiving a prestigious state award of Chhattisgarh

A LAST minute decision of debarring public servants from receiving state awards by the Chhattisgarh government forced an IAS officer to face the humiliation of reaching an award venue only to return empty handed. A Chhattisgarh cadre IAS officer of 1999 batch Sonmoni Borah reached an award function in state capital Raipur on November 1 only to realise that his name was deleted at the last moment reportedly at the behest of a few senior IAS officials close to chief minister Raman Singh. Shahid Veer Narayan Singh Award, which is conferred every year on the state’s Foundation Day, was earlier received by an IPS officer Ramesh Sharma, now IG of Bilaspur. Mr Borah, the Bilaspur district collector, was selected for this year's Shahid Veer Narayan Singh Award for his “exemplary service in the field of development” among tribal and backward communities by a committee under the chairmanship of Sohan Potai, a tribal MP from Kanker and four other tribal MLAs. Significantly, diktat from the Chhattisgarh government came at a time when Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT), which maintains the profiles of IAS officers, has decided to include awards, citations, articles, books etc.in the Executive Record Sheets, or ER sheets of IAS. Sources said that Borah’s name was deleted at the last moment following a section of senior civil servants of the state raising an objection and conveying their views to chief minister Raman Singh who was then in South Africa.

Home secretary Pillai leaves for Kathmandu today for high level talks The Union home secretary G K Pillai is leaving for Kathmandu today for home secretary level talks between India and Nepal. The talks will be held on the 6th and 7th October. During his visit, Mr Pillai is likely to call on the Prime Minister and Home Minister of Nepal. The last home secretary level talks between the two countries were held on 31st October and 1st November, 2008 in New Delhi. Action & Appointments a) D R Meena, ILS, presently additional secretary, department of legal affairs, has been appointed as secretary department of legal affairs for a period of one year from the date of assumption of charge of the post in place of T K Viswanathan, ILS who completed his tenure on 31st October, 2009. b) Ms Kiran Dhingra, a 1975 batch UT cadre IAS and secretary in the ministry of housing and urban poverty alleviation will hold additional charge of the post of secretary in the ministry of shipping for a period of three months with effect from 1st November, 2009. c) The competent authority has approved the induction of Ashok Tewari, a 1993 batch IPS from Himachal Pradesh cadre as DIG in the CBI for a period of 5 years in accordance with the IPS Tenure Policy, 2000 with effect from the date of his joining in the CBI.