Hard taskmaster Zohra Chatterji appointed as textile secretary

Zohra Chatterji

AFTER days of intense speculations and wrong guesses by many, Zohra Chatterji, a 1979 batch UP cadre IAS and the one who hogged the limelight recently for steering the Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG) on coal, has been appointed as Union textile secretary. Ms Chatterji who is known for taking impartial and highly independent decisions will however…

Coal Block De-allocation: Who is Zohra Chatterji, her career & controversies

Zohra Chatterji

ADDITIONAL secretaries usually live in oblivion. In most cases, they are the financial advisers for the government departments with no authority on any vertical. But 1979 batch additional secretary level IAS officer Zohra Chatterji has turned lucky. The UP cadre officer, who had earlier steered the Coal India Ltd as its interim head, has been hogging the limelight ever since her Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG) on coal was entrusted the daunting task of deciding the fate of coal blocks allocated to the private parties between 2005 and 2009. The next IMG meeting is scheduled to be held on Wednesday, but here BoI attempts to give a snapshot of Zohra Chatterji as a person, her credentials and controversies:

Why This Coalaveri Di? IAS officers bid for clinching Coal India chairman’s post

Nandita Chatterjee in China (File Photo)

NEVER before the chairman’s post of a government-run company has wooed so many prominent IAS. And hence: Why This Coalaveri Di? Here are five IAS officers who have made serious bids to clinch the coveted post of chairman, Coal India. The final interview will take place on February 14. Currently, coal ministry’s additional secretary and 1979 batch IAS Zohra Chatterji is the acting CMD of Coal India. Remember, Coal India is not just a cash-rich PSU. It commands respects in government, corporate corridors and also in Dalal Street. Only on August last year, the company, which is the world’s largest coal-miner, hogged the limelight when its market capitalization surpassed that of Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Industries, and became India’s most valuable company. Also, the chairman’s revised pay scale at Rs 80,000 to 1,25,000 per month is an attractive proposition as it is higher than the salary of a secretary-ranked officer. But for most IAS officers applying for the post, other factors including early retirement and current side-tracked postings could be some of other considerations why they wish to venture into this world of coal mining. Here are the IAS applicants for this hot job.

Nandita Chatterjee

Additional secretary, Environment Ministry
For this 1980 batch West Bengal cadre IAS officer, it’s a perfect fit to work five more years for this Kolkata-headquartered PSU giant. As she will be 60 only in July 2017, Ms Chatterjee, if selected, will get a full five-year term. She is a post graduate in economics and also a PhD in anthropology. She is an alumni of Presidency College, Kolkata, University of Manchester, UK and World Bank Institute, Washington DC. Her work experiences in environment ministries both at the state and the Centre could be an added advantage, as Coal India’s biggest challenge now is to fiercely follow its growth path while remaining highly environment-friendly.

RS Kahlon

Environment Secretary, West Bengal
For this 1984 batch IAS, it’s an opportunity to head a leading government company from Kolkata. Kahlon who has never been on a Central deputation in the past and who is retiring in 2018, it’s the right bet. He is an MA in English literature and has no economics background.

Sudhir Kumar

Sudhir Kumar

Former OSD to Lalu Prasad
The high point of this 1982 batch Bihar cadre IAS was the much talked about turnaround saga of Indian Railways. Sudhir Kumar was the backroom boy of making Railways a profitable venture when students from IIM and Wharton queued up outside Rail Bhawan to do case studies on Lalu Prasad-anchored success story. Kumar was in fact more powerful than any Railway Board chairmen between 2004 and 2009. But his career graph fell sharply after Lalu’s RJD did a poor show in 2009 general elections, and Lalu was replaced by Mamata Banerjee as railway minister. Kumar joined power ministry as a joint secretary before going back to Nitish Kumar’s Bihar. Those who had worked with Sudhir Kumar say he understands business nuances more than even the business honchos do, and he will be a perfect CEO. Also, he is retiring in 2016, thereby making his Coal India bid a right case.

Sreemat Pandey

Principal Secretary to Rajasthan CM
This 1984 batch Rajasthan cadre IAS had served in the state electricity department several years before joining as secretary to CM. Sreemat Pandey was an electrical engineer, and then took civil services exam to become an IAS.

Narsingh Rao

A former UN hand
For the last five and half years, Narsingh Rao, a 1986 batch Andhra Pradesh cadre IAS, has been working as Chairman and MD of Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL). Maybe, it’s the time he joins a bigger PSU which has a national reputation. Rao worked as portfolio manager in an UN agency called UN Office for Project Services for six years between 1999 and 2005.

Cash in Hand: Suspended IAS power couple Tinoo and Arvind Joshi's date with Delhi's key ministries

HE WAS in George Fernandes’ team in the defence ministry during NDA’s second innings and served as a joint secretary as the fierce Kargil war was fought during the summer of 1999. And his wife served as the secretary general of Federation of Indian Export Organisation (FIEO) when Kamal Nath was the commerce minister during UPA’s first innings.

But this power couple, Arvind Kumar Joshi and Tinoo Joshi, both 1979 batch Madhya Pradesh cadre IAS, are left with nothing in their defence now, after an Income-Tax raid in their residence on Thursday recovered a whopping Rs 3.1 crore in cash, jewellery and documents of properties disproportionate to their known sources of income. On Friday, Madhya Pradesh government suspended both of them with immediate effect.

The other serving IAS whose residence at Raipur was also raided by the tax sleuths was Chhattisgarh’s agriculture secretary and 1988 batch Chhattisgarh cadre IAS Babulal Agrawal. The I-T team recovered Rs 52 lakh from his residence and jewellery worth Rs 72 lakh. According to media reports, what was recovered from Joshis’ residence included cash of Rs. 3.1 crore, foreign exchange worth Rs 7 lakh, jewellery worth Rs 66 lakh, and investments worth Rs 3 crore. Their five bank lockers were already sealed.

Like most other IAS couples, Tinoo, a Bengali met her fellow IAS Arvind in the academy and later got married. A post graduate in chemistry, Tinoo Joshi later took an MBA degree from an Australian university just like husband who too is an MBA from the University of Wollongong.

Even in late 1980s and early 1990s, the Joshi couple held some important posts in Central deputation as deputy secretaries. Where as Tinoo Joshi served as deputy secretary in PMO (July 1, 1988 to January 1, 1990) and ministry of labour (January 1, 1990 to July 1, 1992), Arvind Joshi served as deputy secretary in health July 1, 1988 to September 1, 1989), director in the ministry of railways (September 1, 1989 to April 1, 1991) and deputy secretary in the ministry of coal (April 1, 1991 to August 1, 1992).

Finally, who are the prominent batch mates of Tinoo and Arvind Joshi? They include R Gopalakrishnan (Madhya Pradesh cadre), joint secretary in PMO, Vinay Sheel Oberoi (Assam cadre), Permanent Representative in UNESCO, Paris, Dr Prasanna Kumar Mohanty (Orissa cadre) and Mission Director, Jawaharlal Nehru Nl Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) under the ministry of housing and urban poverty alleviation, and Ms Zohra Chatterji (UP cadre), joint secretary information and broadcasting ministry. 

Also Read: 

Taxman anchoring Madhu Koda episode

I-T officials instructed to address ex-Jharkhand CM as "Koda Sir"