Tamil Nadu IAS Ashok Vardhan Shetty gets voluntary retirement, courtesy CAT

Dr K Ashok Vardhan Shetty, a 1983 batch Tamil Nadu cadre IAS, had five more years to retire. A principal secretary in the state’s municipal department, Shetty, an engineer and MBA, simply wanted to quit the government. In September 2011, he applied for voluntary retirement and wanted him to be relieved by December 9. But the story took a new turn after Jayalalithaa-led government had decided not to relive him, and instead ordered a vigilance enquiry against the officer. It was alleged that Shetty was involved in financial irregularities when he was principal secretary in rural development and Panchayati Raj department of the state.
But Shetty decided to fight back. He approached the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) with the argument that he was not under suspension, and fulfilled the criteria of 28 years of service and 50 years of age to be eligible for voluntary retirement.
Finally, Madras Bench of the CAT agreed to his argument and asked Tamil Nadu government to accept his resignation. The CAT further directed the state government to disburse the retirement benefits to the IAS officer within three months.
An MBA from Birmingham University, it is however not known what’s Shetty plan of action post voluntary retirement.
Few very people in corridor know that Shetty passionately blogs, and has been blogging since 2007. The social media then was a strict “no no” to the babus. His blogs are Great Minds on God, Religion and Science, and Superstition Scan.

Action and Appointments

a) The Centre has approved the extension of inter-cadre transfer of HR Srinivasa, a 1996 batch Bihar cadre IAS from Bihar to Karnataka for two more years with effect from September 10, 2011. It was however mentioned in the order, dated February 27, 2012 that Srinivasa’s inter-cadre transfer can’t go beyond seven years, and the current extension too was given on “compassionate grounds” and it should not be quoted as “a precedent”.
b) Rohit Kumar, a 1997 batch Rajasthan cadre IAS and director of rural development ministry, has been laterally transferred to the ministry of road transport and highways.
c) Rakesh Singh, a 1989 batch Karnataka cadre IAS who is currently on compulsory wait in the department of legal affairs, has now been appointed as joint secretary in the ministry of home affairs.

New IT secretary J Sathyanarayana’s old story of a “Smart Government”

WITH J Sathyanarayana, a 1977 batch Andhra Pradesh cadre IAS, being appointed as secretary in the department of Information Technology, two IAS officers who had dreamt of a “smart government” 10 years ago, will now share the same ministry in Delhi. The other IAS officer of the same Andhra Pradesh cadre is Rentala Chandrasekhar who is now telecom secretary. Both Sathyanarayana and Chandrasekhar will report to the same minister, Kapil Sibal. And if they wish, both secretaries will be able to talk to each other in Telugu. Here is the untold story. In 2002, then NDA government decided to start an organization called National Institute for Smart Government (NISG). It was formed as a Section 25 company. R Chandrasekhar, an Andhra Pradesh cadre IAS and then joint secretary in the ministry of defence (under transfer to ministry of information technology), was identified as the Officer on Special Duty for the project. Those were the high days of Hyderabad converting itself into an IT hub, and officers from the state were in high demand thanks to their tech savvy attitude. And mind it, those were the days when most IAS officers did not even know how to log into a computer and send a mail.
And the man who became the CEO of National Institute for Smart Government for five years between 2003 and 2008 was J Sathyanarayana. A post graduate in physics, Sathyanarayana was considered to be the right choice for the job because of his experience as principal secretary to Andhra Pradesh’s buzzing IT department.
Sathyanarayana is an MBA from Yugoslavia. For 10 months till August 2011, he was also the special chief secretary to Andhra Pradesh chief minister.

Action and Appointments

a) The Appointments Committee of Cabinet has asked law ministry to identify an Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to law minister Salman Khurshid by June 30, 2012. Till then Giri Ketharaj, joint director of Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India will be Khurshid’s OSD. The issue was taken up after Khurshid wrote a letter to PM on August 16, 2011 regarding the issue.
b) Tourism secretary RH Khwaja, a 1976 batch Andhra Pradesh cadre IAS, will hold additional charge of secretary, ministry of culture for a period of three months.
c) Click HERE to find 1992 batch IAS officers, empaneled as joint secretaries

DoPT asks government officers to sign bond before leaving for APPPA training

THE government officers selected for a nine-month-long training programme on public administration with two weeks of international exposure now must sign a bond paper stating that they would return the money with interests in case they leave the service in five years after completion of the programme. Sensing a possibility of government officers quitting after undertaking government-funded trainings, the department of personnel and training (DoPT) in a circular dated February 21, 2012 inserted a new clause of a bond sign for those officers who are undertaking Advanced Professional Programme in Public Administration (APPPA) to be held between July 2, 2012 and March 31, 2013. In fact, DoPT’s earlier circular dated November 17, 2011 on the same subject did not have that clause. The programme attracts a large number of Group A officers including IAS, IPS, IRS etc. as it has a module of a two-week-long international exposure too.  Significantly, during the highs of Anna Hazare movement last year, Income-Tax department asked Hazare’s close confidante and former IRS officer Arvind Kejriwal to pay over Rs 9 lakh as he did not join the service after completing his study leave at government expenses. I-T department demanded Kejriwal to return two years’ salary amounting to Rs 3.50 lakh and interests of Rs 4.16 lakh apart from Rs 1 lakh for a computer loan with interests. Kejriwal insisted he did not violate any rule but finally paid the dues with interests.
Now, the government does not want to take any risk of future disputes. According to the new DoPT rule, the participants of the APPPA course must sign a bond stating that they would return the money if they fail to resume duty after the course or resign in five years of their return. The failure to complete the course will also mean the money needs to be returned. To amount to be returned is also clearly defined in the bond itself. It includes pay and allowances during the period, course fee, travel expenses, cost of international training etc.

Action and Appointments

a) A New York court on Wednesday asked Indian Foreign Service Officer Neena Malhotra and her husband to pay about $1.5 million (about Rs 7.5 crore) for forcing an Indian girl Shanti Gurung to work "without pay" and meting out “barbaric treatment”. Ms Gurung was their maid.
b) Assam-Meghalaya cadre IAS officer VS Bhaskar who is facing charges of sexual harassment of a woman colleague, S Padmaja, withdrew his writ petition challenging the CAT order. The CAT had earlier directed Bhaskar’s transfer from UIDAI to his parent cadre.
Also Read

Bhaskar-Padmaja case

UP cadre IAS Pradeep Kumar Sinha appointed as new shipping secretary

A 16th century Japanese ship

Pradeep Kumar Sinha, a 1977 batch UP cadre IAS, will be India’s new shipping secretary in place of K Mohandas who is retiring on February 29, 2012. Sinha who is currently a special secretary and financial adviser in the ministry of petroleum and natural gas is one of the last empanelled officers of 1977 batch to get independent departments. Senior most IAS officer of 1978 batch, Jawed Usmani, will soon get a secretary’s post enabling all his batch-mates to be elevated to special secretaries. A post graduate in economics with sound knowledge of French language, Pradeep Kumar Sinha is a familiar face in Delhi’s corridors of power. He had three deputation terms in Delhi and had also served as additional resident commissioner in New Delhi’s UP Bhavan when current cabinet secretary Ajit Kumar Seth, Sinha’s three batch senior from the same cadre, was the resident commissioner.
Hailing from Delhi, Sinha was collector in Jaunpur and Agra districts of Uttar Pradesh. He joined the Central government first in 1986 when he became deputy secretary in the ministry of power. In late 1990s, Sinha became director and then joint secretary in the ministry of sports and youth affairs. Later, he joined as additional resident commissioner in Delhi’s UP Bhavan, and also UP’s investment commissioner based out of Delhi. In 2003-04, Sinha was additional CEO of Greater Noida Authority.
For almost eight years now, Sinha has been in petroleum ministry handling the task of financial adviser as joint secretary, additional secretary and then special secretary. Sinha undertook two long training, first at Indian Institute of Public Administration (1990) and then at Queen Elizabeth House (1999), UK.

Action and Appointments

a) Sharad Gupta, a 1977 batch Assam cadre IAS, presently Director General of Bureau of Indian Standards, has been appointed as secretary, department of official language, ministry of home affairs in place of ANP Sinha, a 1974 batch Bihar cadre IAS retiring on February 29, 2012.
b) Ms Rita A Teaotia, a 1981 batch Gujarat cadre IAS, presently in the cadre has been appointed as additional secretary in the department of information technology.

How #12th Plan becomes one of top 10 Twitter trends in India; PMO triggers debate

Montek Singh Ahluwalia (File Photo)

NO ONE might have alerted Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia that #12^th Plan was one of the top 10 Twitter trends in India on Tuesday evening. What is usually considered once-in-five-years mammoth sarkari exercise, the 12^th five-year-plan somehow caught the imagination of India’s Twitter freaks. The other trends at the same time included Women Lie About, Brisbane ODI, Jigna Vora and Vijay Mallya. It all started when Prime Minister’s Office tweeted: “PM is meeting all Planning Commission members today as they get ready to prepare the #12thPlan. Send in your ideas and we will forward them.” And everyone jumped in.
One Santhosh Kumar suggested that the government hospitals should have better doctors. Also, he wanted current education system of grades be abolished, and a new industrial and job oriented system be encouraged under 12^th Plan.
But not all Tweets were genuine recommendations the way PMO wanted. One Nandita Bayan said: “Dear PMO, try achieving at least 50% of all previous 11 plans, then think of the so called #12thPlan”.
As more and more people joined the debate by evening, the fake PMO Twitter account which called itself the “parody account” also joined the bandwagon. It says: “#12thPlan to lower poverty line to 5 paisa per day so that Indira Gandhi ji’s dream of removing poverty comes true.” It’s quite confusing because that account too has a similar photo of Dr Manmohan Singh. And the fake account follows none, but has a number of followers as well.
Angered by Rs 32 a-day poverty line controversy, one Avin Chhangani did a straight talk: “Abolish the Planning Commission”. Is Montek Singh Ahluwalia listening by any chance?

MP cadre woman IAS officer wants to approach Anna Hazare; Why?

ANNA factor may no longer be as strong as it used to be, but an aggrieved woman IAS officer from Madhya Pradesh, Shashi Karnawat, has threatened to approach anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare against state chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, local media reports said. She has accused the chief minister of protecting the corrupt. No report has however carried the state government’s version.
Ms Karnawat, a 1999 batch Madhya Pradesh cadre IAS, has alleged that the state government has harassed her because she is a Dalit. She has claimed she was framed in a case of financial irregularities over a decade ago but got a clean chit. But the state government has not taken back the case as yet. She has worked as deputy secretary in the technical education department in the state.
52-year old IAS officer also said that she would take up the matter to National Commission for Women apart from approaching Hazare, reports said.

Action and Appointments

Thomson Foundation Trustees

a) A group of 11 Indian government officials are now in UK to get training on media management from Thomson Foundation. They will be trained both in London and Cardiff. Former award winning BBC presenter and investigative journalist Tim Rogers is the head of training in Thomson Foundation. The foundation is known for imparting tailor-made programmes in media management. For example, Burmese citizen journalists were trained on covert video training. In another course, broadcast executives, oil company communications chiefs from Egypt were trained on media planning.

Topless Ukrainian women insulting Indian flag at ambassador Chander’s flat may get jail

Protestors outside Ambassador's residence

TOPLESS Ukrainian girls who last month staged protests outside the residence of Indian ambassador to Ukraine Rajiv K Chander and insulted the Indian flag could face criminal charges under Ukraine’s law. Four protestors may land up in jail for four to five years not because they stripped in public “for a cause”, but because they tore down the Indian flag, used it to bang the door and windows of Chander’s residence and threw it on the ground. Chander, a 1983 batch IFS officer with a previous stint in MEA as joint secretary, was not present when the incident took place.
The protestors from Femen had arrived in Indian dress and stripped to their waists before climbing up a ladder to reach the balcony of Chander’s residence. They were fiercely opposing to reported instructions by India’s external affairs ministry to carry out more checks of Ukrainian women aged 15 to 40 seeking Indian travel visa. The protestors showed placards that read “Ukraine is not brothel” and “I am not prostitute”. The temperature was minus 4 degree Celsius when the women stripped to stage their protests.

Rajiv Chander

There were reports in Indian media that many young women from Central Asian countries come to India, particularly the big metro cities, for prostitution. The trend supposedly reached the peak ahead of the Commonwealth Games hosted by New Delhi in October 2010. A few raids by Delhi police have confirmed such a suspicion.
Yet for Chander and other Indian diplomats, such protests could be challenging. After all, Indian diplomats are not trained to face anger from topless young women.

Babu Tweets

Vishnu Prakash, 1981 batch Indian Foreign Service officer and India’s ambassador to South Korea, was highly impressed by the innovation of Korean Railways. On Saturday, he posted a photograph in Twitter with a caption: “Seoul railway station even offers strollers for infants if needed by passengers”. Will Indian Railways take a cue?
To get a slice of action-packed news on bureaucrats instantly, follow:

twitter.com/babublogger

No taker for a cool job at Indian embassy in Myanmar; Government re-advertises

IT seems there was no serious bidder for a deputy secretary-equivalent post in mystic land of Myanmar. The government in a circular dated November 28, 2011 wanted an Indian government officer at the rank of a deputy secretary to join as first secretary, (development) at Indian Embassy in Yangon. As the circular had mentioned, the selected candidate needed to relocate herself to Myanmar with immediate effect. But three months later, the government came out with another circular advertising the same post with the deadline now extended to March 5, 2012.
There is silence on the government’s move to re-circulate the same advertisement, but it is believed that there was lack of enthusiasm among IAS and other Group A services officers to move to Myanmar. It is however mentioned in the fresh circular dated February 16, 2012 that those who had applied earlier need not apply again, and their names would still be considered along with the fresh applicants.
The possession of prior experience in the field of project management and implementation is a mandatory requirement. It is also desired that the applicant has an engineering degree though it’s not mandatory.
With Myanmar gaining currency thanks to the growing interests shown both by China and India, the three-year experience in this exotic land could however go well in one’s CV.

Action and Appointments

a) Ajit Kumar, who is becoming the first 100% visually impaired person to join as IAS, will begin his training at Mussoorie from February 20. An MA in political science, Kumar, originally hailing from Haryana, was selected by UPSC in 2008. But he was initially denied a berth in IAS, and was asked to join Indian Railways Personnel Service. Kumar first approached the CAT, and then CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat who took him to PM. And with PM giving his nod, Kumar finally won the battle.

IRS officer alleges her senior, an IAS, of sexual harassment, case lands at High Court

Disclaimer: Photo does not pertain to this case

VS Bhaskar, a 1985 batch Assam-Meghalaya cadre IAS and senior officer in Nandan Nilekani-run UIDAI, has approached Andhra Pradesh high court to quash a CAT order on a sexual harassment case.
It all began when S Padmaja, an IRS officer holding the rank of additional director general in UIDAI, claimed that Bhaskar was harassing her mentally and had even tried to physically assault her. It was alleged that Bhaskar, her senior, used abusive language, threats etc. over phone when he was drunk.
Ms Padmaja went on leave and a committee looked into the matter. The Hyderabad Bench of Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) recently ordered Bhaskar’s repatriation to his parent cadre of Assam and Meghalaya.
Bhaskar claimed that Ms Padmaja approached CAT only to harass him as she was not probably happy with the kind of work allotted to her.
According to a DoPT memo, the following constitutes “sexual harassment” in government:
a) Physical contacts and advances;
b) Demand or request for sexual favours
c) Sexually coloured remarks
d) Showing any pornography, or
(e) Any other unwelcome physical, verbal or non-verbal conduct of a sexual nature
Also Read

DoPT’s reminder on sexual harassment

Action and Appointments

a) The Centre has accorded the inter-cadre transfer of Vivek Pratap Singh, a 1996 batch Punjab cadre IAS from Punjab to AGMUT cadre. He will be Commissioner, Chandigarh Municipal Corporation for three years.
b) BB Kaura, a Central Secretariat Service officer, has been appointed as joint secretary in the department of telecom till he retires in November 2013.

Dance Babu Dance: Indian bureaucrats to compete for best dancer, best singer titles

COME February 27, Indian bureaucrats will sing and dance, quite literally. The Central Civil Services Cultural and Sports Board is organizing music, dance and short play competitions to be held in New Delhi’s Mavlankar Auditorium between February 27 and March 1. And for Central government employees, it’s a chance to think beyond sarkari files and display their talents as singers, dancers and actors. If a bureaucrat wants to perform a solo music or dance, the entry fee is just Rs 10. The entry is open till February 22.
A circular dated February 9 has been sent to the welfare officers of all Central government ministries and departments. Casual employees working as consultants in various ministries are however not eligible for the competition.
If you know any bureaucrat with outstanding talent in singing or dancing, do send a mail to feedback@babusofindia.com

Theft in IAS children marriage

There was theft of valuables worth Rs 2.5 lakh in a high profile marriage of children of two senior IAS officers in Delhi recently. The incident occurred during the marriage between son of secretary of Information and Broadcasting ministry Uday Kumar Varma and daughter of Uttar Pradesh principal secretary and 1982 batch IAS Susheel Kumar.
A case has been registered against an unknown young man impersonating there as a guest. The victim was the wife of Verma who lost her hand bag which had gold mangalsutra, necklace, ear rings and Rs 20,000 cash. The venue of the event was 5, Ashoka Road in heart of Lutyens’ Delhi.

Action and Appointments

a) India’s biggest private sector company Reliance Industries has roped in a prominent British babu. The British government official Tony Fountain, who came into news sometime back as the highest paid civil servant in UK, will now be the CEO of Reliance’s refining business. Fountain was the chief executive of Britain’s nuclear dismantling authority.