5 Indian Bureaucrats Around 2G Spectrum: Good, Bad and Ugly...

A DAY after the Supreme Court gave a monumental verdict and cancelled all 122 telecom licenses awarded by A Raja and his team, BoI (babusofindia.com) has identified 5 bureaucrats who played as hero, villain and supporting roles in this multi-billion dollar telecom saga.

Manju Madhavan: The Officer Who Flagged the 2G Scam

In this maze of billion dollar 2G spectrum scam, here is a bureaucrat who remained an unsung hero. She is 1971 batch Indian Revenue Service officer Manju Madhavan who reportedly flagged the 2G scam. Known to be an upright officer Ms Madhavan resigned as Member (Finance), department of telecom after getting upset with her minister A Raja. A doctorate in psychology, Ms Madhavan attended a programme on fiscal de-centralization and financial management of regional and local governments at Harvard University, and then a management development programme at IIM, Bangalore.
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The Bureaucrat Who Spotted the Scam

Vinod Rai: The Man Who Scripted a Disaster for UPA-II

Had this 1972 batch retired IAS not given a controversial tag of Rs 1.76 lakh crore to the 2G spectrum scam, it would have probably been kept under the wraps. But Vinod Rai, who was incidentally appointed as Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) just a day before 2G licences were announced, decided to take on everyone to unravel the 2G truth. And he continued his crusade despite being a target at many forums including JPC. Rai in another report even dragged the PMO for the Commonwealth Games fiasco.
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Rai's Closed-Door Conclave at Shimla

Siddharth Behura: Signatory of a Monumental Mistake?

Siddharth Behura, who as the telecom secretary signed the controversial 2G licenses announced on January 8, 2008, was incidentally a key officer responsible for the liberalization of the industrial sector in India way back in 1991. But today, he is infamous for his alleged role in doling out licences to ineligible telecom companies which the Supreme Court finally struck down. The 1973 batch UP cadre IAS who was with environment ministry between 2005 and 2007 when A Raja was the environment minister, said he had no option but to implement the minister’s decision. “The relationship between the minister and secretary is a very tenuous one”, Behura had earlier told a daily. But he was arrested in February 2011, and had remained in Tihar jail for nearly one year.
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Behura: From Team Manmohan to Team Raja

RK Chandolia: A Private Affair

RK Chandolia, a 1984 batch Indian Economic Service officer, is one of many officers of elite IAS and allied services of Indian administration who have served as private secretaries to ministers. Nothing unusual about it considering ministers always handpick one of their trusted officers as private secretaries. But he came under the CBI net after his boss A Raja who is still languishing at Tihar jail, became the main accused in the 2G scam. Chandolia may now be out in bail, but the case against him is still on.
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Dos and Don’ts for a Minister’s Private Secretary

Shyamal Ghosh: A Shocker After 9 Years

Nine years after he retired as telecom secretary, 1965 batch Gujarat cadre IAS Shyamal Ghosh woke up in one fine morning in November last year to find CBI sleuths knocking at his home in New Delhi. The reason? The investigating agency wanted to raid the residence of Ghosh who was telecom secretary when BJP leader Pramod Mahajan was the minister. The CBI believes that the policy of allotting airwaves in 2002 led to the loss of Rs 508 crore to the exchequer. There were raids in offices of telecom majors, Airtel and Vodafone, which are the supposed beneficiaries of NDA’s telecom policies.
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Ghosh: Was He BJP’s Behura?

PAC report on 2G scam raps bureaucrats

THE Public Accounts Committee probing the 2G spectrum scam has raised many loopholes in Indian bureaucracy and wanted the government to step in to plug those. The panel headed by senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi gave instances where senior bureaucrats became a party to “the dirty game”.

In its controversial report, the panel has not even spared former DoT secretary DS Mathur and IRS (I-T) officer Manju Madhavan, who as member (finance) in Telecom Commission, had actually flagged the issue. (Also Read: Did a 1971 batch IRS officer flag the 2G scam?)

For Mathur, the panel said he gave an impression that he was against the telecom minister’s policies, but it was not reflected in his official communications as DoT secretary. It also said that Manju Madhavan did not bring it to the notice of the finance minister or secretary the disparaging remarks that she received from the telecom minister when she had objected to certain matters.

The panel has also rapped then finance secretary D Subbarao who is now the Governor, Reserve Bank of India.

The panel says that if the current situation is not changed, honest and upright officers will become mute and ineffective.

It further recommended a panel headed by Prime Minister, and comprising a Supreme Court judge, home minister and leader of Opposition should appoint CAG, CVC and the CBI director who are expected to play non-partisan roles.

Babus in Demand

A director’s post lying vacant in Brussels

The government wants to fill up the post of Adviser (Information and Engineering) in the Embassy of India, Brussels, under the department of commerce. The officers in the rank of deputy secretary or director in the government of India or equivalent level are eligible for the post. The mandatory requirements include work experience of at least two years at the Centre under the Central Staffing Scheme. The candidate should not be over 54 years of age to qualify for the post. The last date of application is May 31, 2011.

(In Picture: It’s a landmark in Brussels. The sculpture depicts a naked little boy urinating into the fountain’s basin. It was designed by Jerome Duquesnoy and put in place in early 17^th century)

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Actual DoPT CIRCULAR, dated April 26, 2011

2G Spectrum: Ex-telecom officials DS Mathur and Manju Madhavan to appear before PAC

TWO former telecom ministry officials DS Mathur and Manju Madhavan who reportedly refused to toe ex-telecom minister A Raja’s dictates on 2G spectrum allocations, would appear before the Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee to present their views on the issue. The PAC headed by BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi asked former telecom secretary DS Mathur and former member (finance) in Telecom Commission Manju Madhavan, a 1971 batch IRS officer to appear before it on January 21 to give their viewpoints on the irregularities on awarding licenses three years ago.

Mathur, who retired as secretary only on December 31, 2007, had claimed while interacting with media later that minister Raja was determined to grant licenses despite several irregularities were spotted.

Mathur further claimed that he refused to sign the files, and the allocations were done only days after he had resigned. In fact, Siddhartha Behura, a 1973 batch UP cadre IAS who joined the ministry as the telecom secretary on December 31, 2007, signed the controversial 2G licences announced on the second week of January, 2008.

On November 19, 2010, BoI (babusofindia.com) wrote how 1971 batch IRS officer Manju Madhavan flagged the 2G scam over three years ago. She actually mentioned in a note that proposed prices were too low if compared to the prevailing market forces.

A doctorate of psychology, Manju Madhavan attended a programme on fiscal de-centralization and financial management of regional and local governments at Harvard University, and then a management development programme at IIM, Bangalore. Both Manju Madhavan and then telecom secretary DS Mathur reportedly objected to then telecom minister A Raja’s decision to deliberately determine the cut-off date for receiving applications as October 1, 2007.”

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Did I-T official Manju Madhavan falg the scam?

The bureaucrat who signed 2G files

Centre defends CVC appointment

The Central government has once again defended the appointment of 1973 batch Kerala cadre IAS PJ Thomas, facing a corruption case in a two-decade-old corruption case, as Central Vigilance Commissioner. In an affidavit in the Supreme Court, Thomas was termed as an “outstanding officer” with “impeccable integrity”. The affidavit said that Thomas’ suitability for the post should not be decided by the apex court, and it should be left to the wisdom of the appointing authority. 

Did 1971 batch IRS officer Manju Madhavan flag India’s Rs 1.76 lac crore 2G spectrum scam three years ago?

AN anonymous reader of babusofindia.com has sent a long email to argue that IAS officers are much more corrupt than their counterparts in other services and how IAS officers are being used by politicians for narrow material gains. While deciding not to publish the names of corrupt IAS officers mentioned in the email because of lack of evidence, BoI Team has however found high merit in some of his/her arguments.

First the reader applauded a 1971 batch IRS officer Manju Madhavan who reportedly flagged the 2G scam. “Kudos to Ms Manju Madhavan, an IRS officer of 1971 batch, for foreseeing the biggest scam in modern India. She resigned as Member (Finance), DoT apparently upset over the decisions of the Minister and his IAS chelas. In doing so she displayed an exemplary character. People in the government know how honest and upright an officer she is,” said the reader, believed to be an IRS officer with the vast knowledge of balance of power inside the corridors of power.

A doctorate of psychology, Manju Madhavan attended a programme on fiscal de-centralization and financial management of regional and local governments at Harvard University, and then a management development programme at IIM, Bangalore. According to sources that BoI had interacted with, both Manju Madhavan and then telecom secretary DS Mathur objected to then telecom minister A Raja's decision to deliberately determine the cut-off date for receiving applications as October 1, 2007. 

The reader further claimed, “IRS is the only service which can dislodge the IAS from their positions both by their expertise (talent) and powerful service lobby. The IAS are wary of this fact and are trying their best to suppress IRS officers. It is very apparent from the CVC reports that among civil servants IAS officers are the most corrupt. The number of cases against IRS officers is the least among the civil servants. The number of disciplinary actions recommended by the CVC (incidentally headed by an IAS officer) is proof enough that IRS is not as corrupt as is perceived and IAS is as corrupt as the politicians.”

Action and Appointments

a) Director of Canadian Security Intelligence Service Robert B Fadden met Director of Intelligence Bureau Rajiv Mathur on Thursday in New Delhi during which issues such as sharing of intelligence and interception of BlackBerry service etc. came up.

b) Sheel Bhadra, a 1995 batch IRSME officer, has been debarred from deputation for a posting under the Central Staffing Scheme for a period of five years as he failed to join as Assistant Director General (Director level) in the Unique Identification Authority of India under the Planning Commission at New Delhi. The debarring is done according to para 19.3 (a) and (b) of the Central Staffing Scheme.

c) Premanshu Biswas, a 1990 batch IOFS who was recommended for Central deputation by the ministry of defence, has been selected for appointment as director in the department of industrial policy and promotion, New Delhi for a period of five years.