Bihar Poll: Election Commission to deploy IPS officers as police observers; PSU officials to be roped in as micro observers

Election Commissioners while announcing Bihar poll dates on September 9

THE Election Commission of India has planned to deploy some IPS officers as police observers at the district level during the forthcoming Bihar poll, the dates of which were announced on Wednesday. The state having 243 assembly constituencies will go to polls in five phases starting from...

Corridor’s Tridev on This Poll Season: Meet election commissioners Sampath, Brahma and Zaidi

Brahma (left), Sampath and Zaidi (right)

FOR the next one and half months, these three former bureaucrats -- Veeravalli Sundaram Sampath, Harishankar Brahma and Syed Nasim Ahmad Zaidi will be India’s most powerful babus, as the country is witnessing a 9-phase-long general election beginning April 7 in which as many as 9,30,000 polling stations have been arranged for whopping 814 million voters. All these three election commissioners, Sampath being the chief election commissioner, are former IAS and ex-secretaries to the…

Urban development secretary M Ramachandran could be the dark horse for clinching defence secretary’s post

URBAN development secretary M Ramachandran, a 1972 batch IAS, may emerge as a surprise candidate for the post of defence secretary after current incumbent Vijay Singh retires in the end of July. Though current secretary of the department of defence production Pradeep Kumar, also a 1972 batch IAS from Haryana cadre, is believed to be the front-runner for the post thanks to his experiences in defence department for sometime now, the government may place Mr Ramachandran for the post as a run-up to his candidature for India’s next cabinet secretary. In fact, Mr Ramachandran, who has played a key role in implementing the government’s flagship urban programme JNNURM, is a key contender for the post of cabinet secretary when K M Chandrasekhar’s one-year extension term comes to an end in June next year. It’s believed that Mr Ramachandran’s experiences in defence would make him even a better candidate for cabinet secretary’s post. Extension & Appointment of Officers Central deputation tenure of M Deena Dayalan, IA&AS (1978), joint secretary & financial advisor, in the department of expenditure has been extended beyond July 11, 2009 till his date of superannuation on February 28, 2010. IPS Posting: The proposal of the ministry of home affairs for the induction of the following IPS officers into the ‘hard-core’ of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) has been approved. The officers are: (i) S K Sinha, IPS (Bihar, 1983) (ii) Ms Kala Ramachandran, IPS (Haryana, 1994) (iii) A K Shukla, IPS (MT, 1986) (iv) M Madana Mohan, IPS (MT, 1987) (v) Rithwik Rudra, IPS (Himachal Pradesh, 1993) Dr Zaidi’s Additional Charge: The government has approved the assignment of additional charge of the functions of Representative of India (ROI) on the Council of International Civil Aviation Organization, (ICAO) to Dr Nasim Zaidi, IAS (UP, 1976), Director General of Civil Aviation under the ministry of civil aviation, for a period of three months beyond April 22, 2009 or till new incumbent on the post of ROI, ICAO is appointed. Babus In Demand The government wants application for filling up the post of Financial Advisor (Joint Secretary level) in Khadi & Village Industries Commission at Mumbai, under the ministry of micro, small and medium enterprises in the pay band of Rs 37400-67000 (PB-4) and grade pay of Rs 10,000 on deputation basis. IAS officer in MP suspended on sodomy charges An IAS officer in Madhya Pradesh was suspended on charges of committing sodomy on a Panchayat secretary in Bhopal on Friday. Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan himself announced the suspension of Bhopal district Janpad Panchayat Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Gyaneshwar Patil, who was allegedly caught by a group of mediapersons when he was with a panchayat employee in the office washroom.