5 IPS empanelled as DGP-equivalent; 22 Group 'A' service officers empanelled as joint secretary; Full List

THE Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) last week approved the empanelment of five Indian Police Service (IPS) officers for holding Director General Equivalent level posts  at the Centre. The officers belong to 1984 and 1985 batches of West Bengal, UT and Madhya Pradesh cadres. Also, as many as 22 officers belonging to Indian Audit and Account Service, Central Secretariat Service, Indian Postal Service (IPoS) and various railway services, have been empanelled as joint secretary or joint secretary-equivalent at the centre. Here below is the list of the officers:

Three 2004 batch officers, one each from IDAS, IPoS and ISS, elevated as directors

THREE 2004 batch officers, belonging to Indian Defence Accounts Service, Indian Postal Service and Indian Statistical Service, have been elevated to the rank of directors. All those three officers were working with the central ministries as deputy secretary. A director is a notch higher than a deputy secretary in the government hierarchy. Here below are three officers and their elevation:

Govt wonders why cadre review of some Group “A” services is pending for 40 years; DoPT releases month-wise calendar for review

THE Central government is clearly concerned about the delay in the cadre review of the Group "A" services, with a DoPT office memorandum issued on May 25 saying how “cadre review in some cases is pending for even more than 40 years”. The ideal periodicity of the cadre review is five years. Now, the DoPT has prepared a calendar for cadre review of the Central Group ‘A’ Services, which…

1994, 95, 96 batch of Indian Post and Telecommunication Accounts and Finance Service officers promoted; Full List

Indian Post and Telecommunication Accounts and Finance Service, a  Group ‘A’  service -- the officers of which cater to the department of posts and department of telecommunications -- does not always make news. But last week, as many as 22 officers got promotion to the next rank. First, here’s the batch-wise list of the promoted officers:

Cadre review for Central Engineering Service (Roads) cleared after 30 years; Cabinet also decides to increase posts

THE government on Monday decided to increase the number of senior level posts of Central Engineering Service (Roads), a lesser known Group 'A' service that comes under the ministry of road transport and highways. Accordingly, the number of posts of CES (Roads) will be as follows: 2 for HAG level, 5 for SAG level and 36 for JTS level. The decision, taken by the Cabinet on Monday afternoon, further said that…

Indian Skill Development Service: A new Group A service is born; 10 things to know

ISDS - Indian Skill Development Service will be a new Group “A” service to be created by the Government of India mainly to provide the newly-created union ministry of skill development and entrepreneurship a dedicated technical cadre. The Union Cabinet on Wednesday gave its nod to the proposal of creating this Group “A” service. Significantly, the last Group “A” service (Central Labour Service) was created 28 years ago. Here are 10 things you may like to know about Indian Skill Development Service:

Debroy panel suggests merger of Railway Group “A” services into 2; entry of IAS, IPS etc. into railways

Railway Probationers

IN A measure that could eradicate unhealthy inter-service competition and even bitter rivalry among various Group “A” services of the Indian Railways, the Bibek Debroy-headed panel has recommended consolidation and merger of existing eight organized Group ‘A’ services into two services i.e. the Indian Railway Technical Service (IRTechS) comprising five...

Lokpal empowered to attach properties acquired by officials through corrupt means

THE properties acquired by officials through corrupt means will become government assets if the new draft Lokpal bill gets the Parliament nod in its current form. The Lokpal draft bill, approved by Union cabinet on Thursday, has a clear provision of empowering the Lokpal to attach property of public servants acquired through corrupt means.

Though the debate on the draft bill has so far been concentrated on exclusion of Prime Minister from its ambit, and Team Anna calling it Jokepal, the draft has however included in its ambit any Group A officer or equivalent and chairperson or member or officer equivalent to Group A in any body, board, corporation, authority, company, society, trust or autonomous body established by an Act of Parliament or wholly or partly financed by the Central government.

According to the draft bill, the Lokpal will inquire into allegations of corruption made in respect of Prime Minister, after he has demitted office, a minister of the Union; a Member of Parliament apart from all Group A officers.

Action and Appointments

a) On an expected line, Pulok Chatterji, a 1974 batch UP cadre IAS officer, presently Executive Director in World Bank, will be Principal Secretary to Prime Minister with effect from the October 3, 2011. Current incumbent TKA Nair, has been appointed as adviser to Prime Minister. Nair will continue to hold the rank and status of a minister of state in the Prime Minister’s Office with effect from the October 3, 2011.

b) Pankaj Agarwal, a 1978 batch UP cadre IAS, presently in the cadre, has been appointed as additional secretary in the department of consumer affairs in place of Rakesh Kacker, a 1977 batch Tamil Nadu cadre IAS.

Short Take

Children of IAS officers may unlikely to figure in the list of civil services aspirants which have witnessed 42% rise

LBS National Academy of Administration,

Mussoorie

I was writing a series of articles two years ago when a number of IAS and Group A officers, decided to jump into the uncertainties of private sector, and became CEOs overnight. Various prominent companies in India, mainly those in infrastructure space, including Larsen & Toubro (L&T), IL&FS, IDFC, GMR, Ramky Infrastructure to name a few, recruited senior government officials at key management positions, preferring them over those with rich private sector experience. Even consultancy firms such as PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) attracted talents from IAS cadres. The trend is reversed altogether after the global economic slowdown hit the capabilities of the private sector, though temporarily, to participate in big public private partnership (PPP) projects. What has also made Babus stick to their current positions, is the massive 6th Pay Commission bonanza for government employees, making their pay packages respectable though not yet comparable with that of CEOs. Now, let’s come to the news point. There have been media reports saying that Union Public Services Commission (UPSC) examination this year has seen a rise of 42% - up from last year’s figure of 2.8 lakh to a little over 4 lakh. Incredible! But the bigger question here is babudom has still remained a pure middle class dream. Most of the children of IAS and allied services officers prefer to take GRE, or CAT rather than taking up UPSC examination. The Harvard Business School or IIM-Ahmedabad are still the preferred destinations than making an attempt to get trained at IAS academy at Mussoorie!