IRS-IT officer Shefali Juneja’s tenure extended; tenure of 3 other officers including IPS Rashmi Ranjan Swain also extended

THE central deputation tenure of Ms Shefali Juneja, 1992 batch IRS-IT officer and joint secretary in the ministry of civil aviation, has been extended for a period of one year beyond October 8, 2018. The department of personnel and training (DoPT) on Monday issued a notification in this regard. The government has also extended tenure of three other officers belonging to Indian Defence Accounts Service, Indian Police Service and…

1 late IAS empanelment, 2 extensions for IAS, elevation for 3 senior scientists and more…

JC Ramthanga, 1989 batch Manipur care IAS, on Monday, was empaneled as Government of India joint secretary or equivalent — clearly a late empanelment of any IAS officer. Most of the 2000 batch IAS officers, i.e. whose who were junior to Ramthanga by 11 years in the service, were already empanelled as JS. Meanwhile, the Central deputation tenure of 1990 batch Tripura cadre IAS and joint secretary in the ministry of home affairs was on Friday extended for nine months upto June 29, 2018. Another IAS — Sudhanshu Pandey of 1987 batch (of Jammu and Kashmir cadre), currently a joint secretary in the department of commerce got an extension for…

Ministers made empowered to take a call on deputation of officers beyond 5 years; no need to refer cases to DoPT

IF A ministry or a department or any other borrowing government organization wishes to retain an officer on deputation beyond five years, it can now do it with the approval of the minister concerned, without the case being referred to the department of personnel and training (DoPT). The only conditions, however, are that the extension has to be “absolutely necessary in the public interest”, and it can be only “up to a period not exceeding 7 years at a stretch”, according to a DoPT letter dated June 27 and addressed to all…

7 Days, 5 Extension: Is it routine, or should the pace be questioned?

IN THE first week of May, at least five IAS officers belonging to ministries such as Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), home, industries and defence have got extension. All those officers are currently on Central deputation. To be fair, getting extension beyond a five-year-tenure is not something illegal, but the pace in which extension orders have poured in ahead of a possible change of guard at the Centre, can’t be brushed aside as something routine either. First, here are the five officers some of whom got extension up to one and half years as well…

Omita Paul got extension on the day Pranab Mukherjee was nominated as President, but…

Omita Paul

EXACTLY on the day, the UPA nominated finance minister Pranab Mukherjee as its Presidential candidate, the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) issued an order extending the tenure of his all-powerful adviser Omita Paul. Ms Paul’s three year tenure as adviser to FM would have completed on June 25, 2012. Probably, the extension order was issued for some technical reasons as the order clearly mentioned that…

Why Leena Nandan is getting stuck with a Commonwealth Games post?

Leena Nandan (File Photo)

Delhi Commonwealth Games was over one and half years ago, but a few officers have failed to come out of it, for one reason or the other. On April 17, the Appointments Committee of Cabinet, which is headed by Prime Minister, has approved the extension of Leena Nandan, a 1987 batch UP cadre IAS “as Project Director of the Host Broadcaster Team (HBT) Commonwealth Games, 2010 in Doordarshan for a period up to May 31, 2012”. The ACC order itself said it was “a special case”, but did not mention why an extension was required for an officer who came on a Central deputation in November, 2004. A number of officers working in Organizing Committee of the Commonwealth Games, 2010, had to continue with their posts even after the Games were over, and that too for months with no work, but they finally managed escape routes.

Is Ms Nandan getting stuck because...

Unlike SPG biggies, PMO official Vini Mahajan gets "unconditional" extension

Inside PMO

Vini Mahajan, one of the most influential bureaucrats in Indian Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and 1987 batch Punjab cadre IAS, will remain at the power centre of Delhi at least till April 2012. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet on October 12, 2011, approved “further extension of Central deputation tenure” of Ms Vini Mahajan as joint secretary in the PMO by six months beyond October 29, 2011.

Significantly, it is not a conditional extension unlike in case of four senior IPS officers of elite Special Protection Group. On August 8, 2011, four SPG officers at the rank of Inspector General of Police were given extensions of seven months to one year on conditions that “no further extension would be considered”. The order said “operational needs and sensitivity of the job” were the reasons for giving them extensions up to eight years. The police officers who got conditional extensions included Sudeep Lakhtakia of Andhra Pradesh cadre, Ram Phal Pawar of West Bengal cadre and SL Thaosen of Madhya Pradesh cadre --- all of whom have been with the SPG from the beginning of the UPA-I. The SPG is an elite force meant for protection of the Prime Minister of India and other VVIPs.

Vini Mahajan has been on Central deputation from April, 2004 just a month before the UPA-I took charge. She was then a director in finance ministry. But in June 2005 she was shifted to PMO where she was first a director, and then a joint secretary. A post graduate in management and diploma holder on infrastructure in market economy from an US university, Ms Mahajan is considered to be an asset in the PMO.

Ms Mahajan came into news recently when a finance ministry note dated March 2011 dragging P Chidambaram into the 2G scam came into the public domain through an RTI application. The note, dated March 25, 2011 was signed by finance ministry’s deputy director Dr PGS Rao and was reportedly sent to PMO’s Vini Mahajan. Finance minister Prabnab Mukherjee later clarified and distanced himself from a few lines mentioning about current home minister P Chidambaram.

Action and Appointments

a) The ACC has approved the extension of inter-cadre deputation tenure of Yeshi Tsering, a 1983 batch Assam cadre IAS from Assam-Meghalaya to AGMUT cadre (Arunachal Pradesh) for a further period of one year beyond February 19, 2011.

b) The UP government said that the allegations made by IAS officer Promilla Shankar are “baseless and irresponsible”. According to am UP government spokesperson, Shankar went abroad without due sanction of leaves and that cost her job. But Ms Shankar wrote to the Centre saying that UP government suspended her just eight days after she mentioned flaws in the master plan of the Yamuna Expressway Authority.

Read

Promilla Shankar's letter