UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav shows bribe video to his chief secretary; will there be any action?

TWO years ago, while speaking at the IAS Week in Lucknow, UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav asked senior officers to analyse why they were no longer “greeted with respect” at the Centre, as there was a slide in number of UP cadre IAS in New Delhi. His tone was mild and it was more of an appeal to the officers for introspection. Last week, Yadav was speaking at the same function, and he sounded quite restless on two counts—

Babu Turns Neta: Full list of ex-IAS, IPS, IRS officers who won or lost Lok Sabha polls

Satyapal Singh with Ramdev (File photo)

FORMER IAS officers RK Singh and Bhagirath Prasad, ex-IPS officers Satyapal Singh, Harish Chandra Meena and Vishnu Dayal Ram and former IRS officer Udit Raj -- all from the BJP--- are among the 543 winning candidates in the Lok Sabha polls. As high as seven former IAS and 16 former IPS among others were in the fray in the poll, the results of which were announced on Friday. Here is the list of winning and losing candidates who had an earlier innings as bureaucrats:

Why IAS officers’ associations need a revamp; Bihar chapter not updated for six years!

BIHAR might have witnessed many a change in the last six years, but the Bihar branch of IAS Officers’ Association has failed to update its events, if any, forcing the visitors to read something hilarious like this in its official website:

Who all support Durga Shakti Nagpal, the firebrand IAS taking sand mafia head-on

REQUESTING anonymity, a senior IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre told a section of media on Tuesday that suspended IAS officer Durga Shakti Nagpal would be charge-sheeted, and an inquiry could be ordered to find out whether she had any role in disturbing communal harmony. But more and more groups have come out in support of the 28-year-old IAS, as it appears that she was framed for her drive against the powerful sand mafia lobby in Western UP. Here are Durga supporters:

Govt may bar officers from contesting poll just after quitting service

WITH more and more civil servants including high profile police officers contesting elections just after quitting the service, the government is contemplating to prescribe a “cooling off” period. Currently, a retired government employee has to wait for at least one year before taking up a private sector job unless he takes special permission, but the same rules…

Mulayam Singh Yadav’s growing dislike of bureaucrats; Is Ansari a victim?

Hamid Ansari: Aiming Right?

ON UPA-II dinner party on Tuesday, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav hogged the limelight as Congress leaders wooed him by all means. The seating arrangement at the dais was changed at the last minute to give Yadav a prominent seat along with UPA chairwoman Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, a bureaucrat-turned politician. But BoI here presents a few facts on Yadav’s growing dislike of bureaucrats at large and how that will snap former diplomat Hamid Ansari's elevation to Rashtrapati Bhawan.

Officers must stand up to receive and see off a Member of Parliament, says circular

IF A Member of Parliament or a Member of Legislative Assembly visits an Indian officer, the officer can’t just afford to be casual and say a hello. A recent Central government office memorandum (OM) has reiterated that the concerned officer needs to be courteous and must stand up to receive and see off the political leader. The office memorandum dated December 1, 2011 which was issued by department of personnel and training (DoPT) further said that MPs must get invitations to public functions organized by the government in their constituencies. That’s not all. “Proper and comfortable seating arrangements at public functions and proper order of seating on the dais should be made for MPs/MLAs keeping in view that they appear above officers at the rank of secretaries to Government of India”, the office memo added.

The timing of the OM is significant as many bureaucrats have refused to push the files even at the diktat of their political masters. The reason? They could be the subject to a future investigation for no fault of theirs. Also, the government has of late received some complaints that the existing protocol of babu-neta relations are not being properly adhered to. The OM has been issued mainly to sensitize the government departments about this relations.

The 5-page-long office memorandum also gave minute details about the need to furnish information of local importance to MPs and MLAs whenever asked for, and acknowledgement of their letters within 15 days and reply in the next 15 days.

In fact, the Central Secretariat Manual of Office Procedure mentions some of the protocols officers need to follow while dealing with the political leaders. The recent OM has basically strengthened the instructions that exist under Rule 3(2A) of All India Service (Conduct) Rule, 1968 and Rule 3-A of Central Civil Service (Conduct) Rules, 1964.

Yet the OM has made it very clear that the government officer may not concede whatever the public representative asks for. “While the government servants should consider carefully or listen patiently to what the Members of Parliament and of the State Legislatures may have to say, the government servant should always act according to his own best judgment and as per rules”, it said. After all, conceding anything and everything that an MP or MLA asks for may guide the officer straight to the jail.