Former home secretary CG Somaiah writes a book on stand-alone honest officers

YET another former bureaucrat has penned his experiences as an administrator claiming that honest officers are often beaten by the system. The book titled, “The Honest Always Stand Alone”, written by former home secretary CG Somaiah, was released on Thursday in New Delhi by former president APJ Abdul Kalam.

The book is a repository of many anecdotes of Rajiv Gandhi era, the most interesting one being Police Commissioner of Delhi Ved Marwah’s “security breach” as his car had “intruded” in the route of the visiting Russian Prime Minister. According to the book, then home minister Buta Singh wanted to suspend him, but Somaiah had prevented any punitive action against Marwah and convinced then home minister.

Starting his IAS career as an Assistant Collector in Orissa to the hectic days of fighting terrorism in Punjab as home secretary, Somaiah had a long way as an effective administrator. He also served as Central Vigilance Commissioner and had a six-year tenure as Comptroller and Auditor General of India.

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Cabinet secretary to head search committee for CMDs of MTNL and BSNL

The appointment of CMDs of state-run telcos MTNL and BSNL will be done through a search-cum-selection committee headed by the cabinet secretary, and not by the usual process of PSEB. The other members of the committee are DoPT secretary, telecom secretary, Prof. Ashok Jhunjunwala of IIT, Chennai, Prof Sameer Barua of IIM, Ahmedabad and Prof N Balakrishnan, of IISc, Bangalore. The selection process is expected to be completed within a month.

Action and Appointments

a) The ACC has approved proposal for extension of Central deputation tenure of PG Dhar Chakraborty, a 1980 batch Jammu and Kashmir cadre IAS and Executive Director, National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM) under the Ministry of Home Affairs for the period upto March 31, 2011.

b) The ACC has approved the proposal of the department of commerce for the appointment of Pravir Kumar, a 1982 batch UP cadre IAS, presently working as joint secretary in the ministry of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) to the post of Development Commissioner (joint secretary level), SEZ, Dahej at Ahmedabad (Gujarat).

c) Sanjay Kumar Rakesh, a 1990 batch Manipur-Tripura cadre IAS, presently working as director in the department of rural development has been appointed as joint secretary in that department.

Gujarat's top babus & netas camp at tented accommodation in Rann of Kutch to brainstorm easy admin solutions

GUJARAT'S top bureaucrats and politicians are now camping in an exotic locale of far away Rann of Kutch to participate in a four-day-long brainstorming session organised at the behest of the state chief minister Narendra Modi. The chintan shibir, which is now an annual feature is being attended by chief minister, some of his cabinet colleagues and senior officers, mainly to settle complex administrative problems then and there, and lay down a vision of development for the state. In fact, the officers will not strictly follow the hierarchy in articulating their views for the next few days, as they will be engaged in free and frank discussion till December 7. Former president of India APJ Abdul Kalam is expected to address the political leaders and officials. Interestingly, politicians and bureaucrats are now camping in tents in a rural hamlet in Rann of Kutch.

Jobs in CIC: 116 posts sanctioned THE government has sanctioned 116 posts for the Central Information Commission which in turn has constituted a committee to assess its staff requirement. The government shall examine the report of the committee as and when received. The commission has been allotted a plot of land in Delhi for construction of a building of the Commission. Though staffing and providing accommodation and other facilities to the State Information Commissions are the responsibility of the state governments, the Centre is now providing some assistance to the State Information Commission under a Centrally sponsored scheme, according to minister of state in the ministry of personnel, public grievances & pensions Prithviraj Chavan in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha. Action & Appointments a) Syamal Kumar Sarkar, a 1979 batch West Bengal cadre IAS, presently joint secretary in department of personnel and training (DoPT), ministry of personnel, public grievances and pensions has been appointed as additional secretary in DoPT in place of Vibha Puri Das, a 1976 batch Uttarakhand cadre IAS who was appointed as secretary, higher education recently. b) Retired Maharashtra chief secretary Johny Joseph took over as the new Upa Lokayukta. The veteran bureaucrat was administered the oath of office by chief minister Ashok Chavan in the presence of Lokayukta M B Gaikwad, a former judge of the high court and senior officials.