CVC, DRDO, CIC chiefs appointed, but NHAI turns headless; road transport secretary is temporary boss of NHAI

WITH the appointment of former IRS KV Chowdary as Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) and former IAS Vijai Sharma as Chief Information Commissioner, two of the key government agencies -- CVC and CIC -- that remained headless for months, have got their anchors in place. Also, less than a fortnight ago, another key organization -- Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) which remained headless for almost four months after its high-profile DG Avinash Chander was sacked, got a new director general—S Christopher. But now, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), a statutory body that plays a key role in building highways across India, turned headless after…

New government plans to induct more Information Commissioners; selection process here

CIC Rajiv Mathur

ARE you someone with wide knowledge and experience in any of these disciplines – law, science and technology, social service, management, journalism, mass-media, administration or governance? Then, the new government’s decision to induct a few more Information Commissioners for Central Information Commission should help you. Here is how you can go about it. You need to send your particulars to…

RTI chief Satyananda Mishra, his colleagues, and the shocker to Netas

CIC Mishra

FORMER IAS officer and Chief Information Commissioner Satyananda Mishra has always enjoyed the tag of an efficient and highly honest civil servant. Now, he has one more feather in his cap. Mishra along with former IPS officer…

CIC may have more job openings; sanctioned strength could rise to 160

WITH more appeals and complaints pouring in, the Central Information Commission (CIC) is set to become bigger and have more job openings. The CIC which has now 116 sanctioned posts excluding the information commissioners, may soon have a sanctioned strength to 160 if its proposal gets the government’s nod.

According to information provided by the minister of state in the ministry of personnel, public grievances and pensions V Narayanasamy in written reply to question in the Lok Sabha, the CIC has 15,476 pending appeals and complaints as on January 31, 2011. The CIC disposed of 19,482 appeals or complaints during the year 2009-10 and 20,583 during the period April 2010 – January, 2011. The CIC was allocated a sum of Rs 12.33 crore in 2008-09 and Rs 11.83 crore in 2009-10.

Babus in Demand: One at Manila, other at Abu Dhabi

The government has advertised for two foreign posts --- adviser to the executive director, Asian Development Bank (ADB), Manila in Philippines and counsellor, community affairs (development) at Abu Dhabi. Significantly, officers at the level of deputy secretary and directors of government of India are qualified to apply for the same.

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Details for Manila post

Details for Abu Dhabi post

Maoists make fresh demands to free R Vineel Krishna

The initial report that R Vineel Krishna, a 2005 batch Orissa cadre IAS abducted by Maoist extremists was released at Chitrakonda in Malkangiri district on Tuesday night, turned out to be incorrect. Though junior engineer Pabitra Majhi was freed by the Maoists, the fate of the Malkangiri district collector Krishna remained hanging as the Naxals on Wednesday made a fresh demand for release of five key Naxals in exchange of Krishna’s release.

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Who is R Vineel Krishna?

Some Maha IAS write better Marathi than many a Marathi Manush

IAS officers posted in Maharashtra don't need to worry about a possible MNS backlash at least on one count -- their skill over local language. Thanks to the mandatory training, IAS officers posted in any state can not only speak the vernacular language but write it perfect. No wonder, their file noting are very much in the local language too. Maharashtra Navnirman Sena's (MNS) diktat to newly elected legislators to take oath only in Marathi and the subsequent vandalism in the Assembly on Monday after Samajwadi Party member Abu Azmi began taking oath in Hindi is being condemned across the country as an instance of extreme chauvinism and intolerance. But there are a number of "outsider" IAS officers in the state who can make Marathi Manush run for their money so long as their writing skill in Marathi is concerned. The classic case is that of Manu Kumar Srivastava (see picture), a 1986 batch Maharashtra cadre IAS hailing from Uttar Pradesh. Mr Srivastava, who is known as urban infrastructure man from Mumbai, thanks to his long innings as additional municipal commissioner of Greater Mumbai and then urban development secretary in the state, has such a good hand and excellent command that his writing in Marathi may impress all who matter in Marathi circle. A post graduate in physics, he is one of the key men in Mumbai who are deciding the fate of the dream infrastructure projects of India's financial capital. Delhi HC gives green signal to appoint a bureaucrat as next CIC Delhi High Court said on Monday that it is a misconception that a civil servant would not turn out to be a good Chief Information Commissioner (CIC). In a major blow to RTI activists' lobby to appoint a non-bureaucrat as the next CIC after Wajahat Habibullah resigned to take up his new appointment as J & K Information Commissioner, a Bench comprising Chief Justice A P Shah and Justice S Muralidhar said that someone outside bureaucracy might not necessarily become an effective CIC. The Court, however, said that a non-bureaucrat should be the first choice. In fact, a high-powered committee comprising the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition and a Union minister nominated by the PM, is finalizing the name of the next CIC. Action & Appointments (i) Justice Krishnaswami Chandru, (ii) Justice V.Ramasubramanian, (iii) Justice S Mani Kumar, (iv) Justice A.Selvam, (v) Justice P.R.Shivakumar, (vi) Justice G.Rajasuria, (vii) Justice Thiruneelakantam Sudanthiram, (viii) Justice Saminathan Nagamuthu, (ix) Justice Shunmugavel Palanivelu, (x) Justice K.K.Sasidharan, (xi) Justice M Venugopal, (xii) Justice V.Periya Karuppiah, (xiii) Justice R Subbiah and (xiv) Justice Meenakshi Sundaram Sathyanarayanan, Additional Judges of the Madras High Court, have been appointed as Judges of Madras High Court, in that order of seniority, with effect from the dates they assume charge of their respective offices.

Test Of Time: Indian bureaucrats face the challenge of disclosing their assets

NOW, bureaucrats are under pressure to disclose their assets under the Right To Information Act (RTI). After agreeing to disclose file notings which civil servants successfully blocked for quite sometime, they may have to make public their total assets, a norm which is being routinely practised by politicians. Significantly, what's still hot in public domain is a debate on whether judges should disclose their assets or not. Senior bureaucrats in the government of India may participate in a DoPT-initiated meeting on November 3, 2009 in New Delhi to discuss the matter, a leading national daily reported on Sunday. The paper further indicated that bureaucrats would oppose such a disclosure and would make a strong case for it. In fact, the RTI has turned out to be the biggest challenge for bureaucrats, and if the recent case of CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat's gathering of information from a meeting of officials is any indication, the instrument could be repeatedly used by politicians for gathering information on officers. The Central Information Commission (CIC) found a number of officers guilty and imposed penalty in more than 200 RTI cases, minister of state in the ministry of personnel, public grievances & pensions Prithviraj Chavan said in Lok Sabha on July 29, 2009. Most cases, however, are related to delay in furnishing information. The Commission received 18,803 complaints and appeals during the period 2005-06 to 2007-08. A recent RTI application also revealed how the definition of family was expanded over the years for the purpose of getting free Air India tickets to its CMD. The RTI findings further revealed the number of free tickets availed by some of the previous Air India chiefs too. Read: RTI unearths no of free tickets doled out to Air India CMD’s family (October 5, 2009) India's CEC to meet Bhutanese politicians & officials The Chief Election Commissioner of India Navin B Chawla is leaving New Delhi on Monday on a four-day official visit to Bhutan mainly to discuss bilateral issues regarding election management. Apart from calling on Prime Minister of Bhutan Jigmi Y Thinley, the CEC will meet regional election officials of the country. India and Bhutan have a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) of Cooperation in the field of electoral management and administration that was signed in May 2006. Bhutan held its first parliamentary elections about a year ago and enacted its constitution.

200 officers face music under RTI so far; Penalty imposed by CIC

THE Central Information Commission (CIC) has found a number of officers guilty and imposed penalty in more than 200 RTI (Right to Information Act) cases, minister of state in the ministry of personnel, public grievances & pensions Prithviraj Chavan said in Lok Sabha on Wednesday. Though details of the officers are not mentioned in the brief written reply to a question, most cases are related to delay in furnishing information. The Commission received 18,803 complaints and appeals during the period 2005-06 to 2007-08. According to information provided by the CIC, the number of applications received by various public authorities during the years 2005-06, 2006-07 and 2007-08 were 24436, 171404 and 263261 respectively. Information in respect of the 2008-09 and current year are not available, it was informed in Parliament. During 2006-07, a total of 100411 applications were disposed of, but information about the disposal of applications for the other years and about the nature of applications received are not maintained centrally.

Action & Appointments a) The tenure of Shekhar Dutt, a 1969 batch Madhya Pradesh cadre IAS (Retired), and deputy national security adviser in the national security council secretariat has been extended for a period of six months with effect from August 1, 2009. This will be treated as ‘re-employment on contract basis’. b) The appointment of Amber Sen, (RAS:70) (Retd), strategic intelligence adviser in the Cabinet Secretariat has been extended for a period of three months with effect from August 1, 2009. This will also be treated as ‘re-employment on contract basis’. c) The premature repatriation of Dilip Biswas, IDAS (1977), presently working as additional financial advisor in the ministry of defence (finance) to his parent cadre has been approved with immediate effect in order to enable him to avail the benefit of promotion to the next higher grade in the cadre. BoI announcement: List of Babuz soon babu blogger likes to extend sincere thanks to all those visitors including senior civil servants for giving valuable insights into who could possibly be India’s top Babuz --- the new term coined to depict the smartest and most powerful bureaucrats in the country. If you have any name in mind kindly mail me at babu.blogger1@gmail.com