What people say about us !

Very interesting. Seeing this site for the first time. Seems to be the best authentic (?), option to keep frontline update.

Subodh Kumar Bansal

Aaj Ki Aawaz

In Parliament UPA is 'on the run'!!!!

As usual when things get hot in Parliament you will not find Sonia and her son!!

Yesterday it was 2 G that made UPA squirm and run for cover..... it's sub-judice..... no voting........ and today its rampant inflation!!!! Which idiot advised Mohna to make that ' Opposition has many skeletons in his cupboard' statement????? It was like Mohna was standing in Congress 'skeleton' graveyard and making this statement!! On inflation we've heard Congress's excuses..... growth causes this..... well now that growth has fallen why is inflation not following suit...... or inflation is a global phenomena.... China's growing at a higher rate than India but its inflation is lower!!! I would not be surprised if Mohna sends Sonia a certificate from his Doctor that he has been advised not to attend Parliament as he's got a bad case of 'mental hernia'... caused by the weight he is mentally carrying!!

PMO should be made party to Kalmadi's 'Great CWG Chori'!!!!!

And also 10 Janpath from where PMO is controlled via a 'dorri'!!!

Two Sports Ministers warned PMO about Kalmadi..... however PMO says it was NDA that appointed him ........ was the appointment 'not irreversible'....... okay if NDA appointed him why were letters from two Congress Sports Ministers ignored.........and initially the IOC Chairman was to be OC's Vicep President..... it was PMO under Mohna that gifted Kalmadi the 'ownership' of OC!!! Now maybe PMO will say it has asked Sports Ministry to send these letters to PMO????? Why was I Gandhi model of Asian Games not followed???? Why was Kalmadi allowed to continue despite the delays and allegations of money minting ???? And then it took months for CBI to even question him.....and we know who and why held back CBI????? And then you have Digvijaya who is Madam's Spokesman giving a clean chit to Kalmadi!! You do not need a Sherlock Holmes to solve this one...it is elementary..... the buck stops at 10 Janpath.... yes the only excuse available to Madam is put to blame on a 10 Janpath functionary!!!

PS..... Yeddy smashed Venkiah Naidu's computer in a fit of rage......fact is Naidu and Yeddy 'were thick as thieves' and Yeddy got upset with Naidu siding with the Party on his removal and demands... Computer is being replaced by BJP..... I recall seeing a Notice in BJP's Delhi Office.... Apne saaman ke aap jimmedaar ho'!!! Will the Gurgaon 'land grabbing' by Gandhi reopen 'Vadra's summer home in the hills' wounds????

Bharat Kumar

Another Raja in the making ?
Grapevine has it that another Raja is in the making meaning thereby that one more Union Minister may have to go behind the bars in the next two to three months. Guess, who he could be.

Hariprasad to be President of KPCC !
B.K. Hariprasad, General Secretary, AICC is being appointed as President, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee. Being an asset to the Congress President, he is being sent reluctantly because previous incumbents to the Post have been unable to revitalise the Party in the State. He will replace G. Parameshwara.

Top 10 of UP, CM: Mayawati
1 J.P. Gaur
2 Ponty Chadha
3 Shashank Shekhar Singh
4 Navneet Sehgal
5 Naseem Ud-Din Siddqui
6 Anand (borther of Ms. Mayawati)
7 Satish Chandra Mishra
8 Kunwar Fateh Bahadur Singh-( PS-Home)
9 Brijlal (Special DGP)
10 Yadav Singh (posted in NOIDA)

BUREAUCRACY

Empanelment of 1992 batch IAS officers soon
Empanelment of 1992 batch IAS officers to the rank of Joint Secretary in the Government of India is expected to take place in a month or two.

Empanelment of 1978 batch not before September
As the grapevine has it, empanelment of IAS officers to Secretary's rank in the Government of India (GoI) may happen in August-September, 2011.

Dr Mitra is new Secretary Minority Affairs
Dr. Surajit Mitra has taken over as the Secretary in the Ministry of Minority Affairs . Later on he called on the Minister of Minority Affairs, Salman Khurshid and Minister of State for Minority Affairs, Vincent H. Pala who welcomed the new Secretary into the Ministry. Khurshid said that Dr. Mitra has entered the Ministry at a time when the process of finalization of the 12th Five-Year Plan is in progress and this provides a great opportunity to the Ministry to meet the aspirations of the Minorities. An IAS officer of 1977 batch, Dr. Surajit Mitra belongs to Assam Meghalaya Cadre. Prior to joining the Ministry of Minority Affairs, he was serving as Additional Chief Secretary to the Government of Assam. Dr. Mitra has a Doctorate in Economics and has a long experience of working in different Ministries of the Central Government in various capacities. He has worked in the Ministries of Rural Development; Tourism & Culture; Defence; Home Affairs; Commerce & Industry; and Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises.

Diptivilasa to be new Joint Secretary Coal ?
Joint Secretary in the MHA D Diptivilasa is likely to move in the Ministry of Coal in the same capacity. He is 1981 batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre.

There will now be no Secretary in PMO
This is certain that after the arrival of Pulok Chaterji in the PMO on October 3 as Principal Secretary, post of Secretary will be abolished. Presently, 1972 batch IAS officer M N Prasad is Secretary in the PMO. Prasad is moving to the World Bank as ED.

Subbarao unlikely to get extension ?
Former Telecom Secretary Siddharth Behura's allegation against RBI Governor D Subbarao in connection with 2 G scam has now spoiled the chances of his getting extension beyond September.

Mohanty to be Director (Projects) NALCO
N R Mohanty is being tipped to be new Director (Projects and Technical) of the National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO).

Anil Palta soon to be Joint Director, CBI
V.V Lakshminarayan DIG, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will soon be elevated as a Joint Director in CBI. He is an IPS officer of 1990 batch who belongs to the Jharkhand cadre.

Who will be Director Enforcement ?
Who will be new Director Enforcement ?. Will he be an IAS or IRS officer ? One can only wait and watch.

Ajit Balaji Joshi to be PS to Jayanthi Natarajan !
Ajit Balajai Joshi is reportedly going as PS to Union Minister Forests and Environment Jayanthi Natarajan. He is 2003 batch IAS officer of Haryana cadre.

Dynamic IFS team behind Justice Hegde
Are the IFS officers more bold than IAS and IPS officers ? Atleast in Karnataka they have proved this by closely working with the then Karnataka Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde. Dr. UV. Singh, Bishwajeet Mishra, and Vipin Singh are the three IFS officers have investigated and authored report on illegal mining in Karnataka.

Now no Padma Award for serving officers
Now it has been decided not to confer Padma Awards to serving bureaucrats .

IA&AS officer gets London posting
Rajesh Singh, Accountant General (A&E), Nagaland, Kohima has been posted as Principal Director of Audit, London vice Deepak Anurag. His posting will be for two years.

Who is topper of 1977 batch IAS ?
When reported on this site that D K Mittal is the topper of 1977 batch IAS, some visitors of this site contradicted this saying Sudhir Vyas was topper of 1977 batch. On Tuesday one visitor said that Noor Mohammad and not Mittal was topper of the IAS in 1977 batch as per UPSC results.

Ms Rita Acharya is now JS Power
Ms Rita Acharya, Director in Ministry of Power, has been promoted as Joint Secretary in the same Ministry on promotion. He is a CSS officer.

Sukhdev Singh Sidhu is on a month's training
Sukhdev Singh Sidhu Joint Director, Administration (HQ) Intelligence Bureau (IB) Government of India (GOI) has proceeded on a month's training. Subsequent to that he will join as Minister in London in place of Ibrahim IPS. He is an IPS officer of 1985 batch who belongs to the Uttar Pradesh cadre.

IPS officers of 2 batches yet to head any district in Punjab
Those IPS officers of Punjab cadre who belong to batches of 2002 & 2003 are yet to be posted as SSPs in districts.

Paramjeet Dhaliwal to be a HC Judge
As the grapevine has it, Paramjeet Dhaliwal an advocate is going to be appointed as a judge of the Punjab & Haryana High Court (HC), Chandigarh.

Interviews for NHPC chief in August
Interviews for selection of an incumbent as new CMD of NHPC will be held sometime in third week of August 2011.

2 main contenders for the post of CMD, SJVN
As the grapevine has it, there are two main contenders for the post of CMD of the Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam (SJVN). Interviews will be held on August 7, 2011.

Assam Govt gives NOC to Arun Kumar
State Government of Assam has given NOC to Arun Kumar, Secretary, Assam Government on central deputation as Joint Secretary. He is an IAS officer of 1983 batch who belongs to the Assam-Meghalaya cadre.

Patnaik moves to Orissa
Amar Patnaik (IA&AS 1990), on expiry of leave has been transferred and posted as Accountant General (Civil Audit), Orissa, Bhubaneswar against a downgraded post vice S K Mishra who retired on superannuation .

3 IPS officers vying for FCI's post of GM in Bhopal
As many three IPS officers and an IRS-IT officer are in fray for the post of Bhopal based Regional Manager with the Food Corporation of India (FCI) for Madhya Pradesh. The post shortly going to fall vacant as existing Senior Regional Manager Sameer Kumar Khare is poised to join the Government of India (GoI) as Joint Secretary Defence .He is an IAS officer of 1989 batch who belongs to the Assam-Meghalaya (A-M)cadre.

DIG BSF M L Batham bags NHRC award
Manohar Lal Batham , who has several literary awards to his credit, has now bagged National human Rights Commission (NHRC) award, carrying a cash prize of Rs. 50,000, for his book 'Astitva Ka Sankat Aur Manavadhikar' (Crisis of Survival and Human Rights). Batham will be awarded at a function to be organized in New Delhi by the National human Rights commission soon.Earlier, Batham has received the Pt Govindvallabh Pant Award and the Indira Gandhi Official Language International award for his first book Atankwad Chunoti Aur Sangarsh and Rashtrabhasha Aacharya award for his another work Sammonopadhi. Born in Bhopal Batham, who has been interested in writing since childhood, has also written books of poetry. One of them, Sarhad Se (based on the day to day life of an army man), has been translated into English, Urdu, Kachhi (Gujarati), Punjabi, Malayali, Bengali and other languages.Batham, who is also a President Police Medal awardee , is now posted at the Mizoram-Cachar frontier at Mashimpur near Silchar,

Sumeet Jerath is on two months leave
Sumeet Jerath Secretary to the Assam government is on leave for two months. His charge is being looked after by Atul Chaturvedi IAS. Chaturvedi is the Principal Secretary of Disaster Management. Jerath is an IAS officer of 1985 batch who belongs to the Assam-Meghalaya cadre.

Lalit Kumar Tewari nominated for 37th APPPA
Lalit Kumar Tewari, Director (Border Mgmt-I), Ministry of Home Affairs, New Delhi, has been nominated for the 37th Advanced Professional Programme in Public Administration (APPPA) commencing at the Indian Institute of Public Administration, New Delhi on July 1, 2011. The programme includes detailed framework of conceptual and applied modules to enable professional exposure on public administration in Indian and international context.

IRS officer Jha empanelled as JS
IRS (IT) officer Shambhu Dutta Jha who belongs to 1984 batch has been empanelled to the post of Joint Secretary or equivalent in the Government of India under the Central Staffing Scheme (CSS).

Air Marshal S Varthaman takes over charge
Air Marshal S Varthaman, AVSM, has taken over as AOC in C, Eastern Air Command on Monday.

Srivastava is new PCCF Tripura
R L Srivastava has been appointed as new Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) of Tripura. He has replaced R P Tangwan.

Rastogi is MD TFDPC
Senior IFS officer Rastogi has been appointed MD of Tripura Forest Development and Plantation Corporation Limited (TFDPC).

Singh is new IG CRPF in Jorhat
Ranjit Singh has been appointed the new IG (operations) of the CRPF at Jorhat.

Air Marshal Kishan Kumar Nohwar is new VCAS
Veteran fighter pilot Air Marshal Kishan Kumar Nohwar has taken over as the Vice Chief of the Air Staff (VCAS) .He has succeeded Air Chief Marshal N A K Browne who took over as the chief of the IAF yesterday.

Three Dy/Asstt Commissioners of Customs and Central Excise transferred
Altogether three IRS officers in the grade of Deputy/Assistant Commissioner of Customs and Central Excise have been transferred. While Anubha Sinha has been transferred from Jaipur CX to Systems Delhi, Harbhajan Das from Delhi Customs (P) to Delhi CX (To work as OSD in PAC, CBEC) and Prabhat K. Rameshwaram from Lucknow CX to DGICCE Delhi (To work as OSD in RA, CBEC).

Four Addl/Jt Commissioners of Customs and Central Excise transferred
As many as four Additional/Joint Commissioner of Customs and Central Excise have been transferred. Accordingly, S.K. Virdi has been transferred from Pune CX & Customs (UOP to CESTAT Mumbai) to Pune Zone (Goa), Madur Sreedhar Reddy from Hyderabad CX (UOP to Cochin CX) to Hyderabad CX (Retention), K.M. Nagarajan from Systems Chennai to Chennai Customs and Upendra Gupta from Delhi CX (UOP to Rohtak CX) to Delhi CX (Delhi) (Retention).

24 IAS officers in Rajasthan transferred
Rajasthan government has transferred 24 IAS officers. Accordingly Mrs. Asha Singh has been made Chairman - Rajasthan Civil Services Appellate Tribunal, Jaipur, Pankaj - CMD - Rajasthan Small Industries Corporation Ltd, Chandra Mohan Meena - Principal secretary and honorary DG, Harishchandra Mathur Rajasthan Public Administration Institute, Jaipur, Rakesh Verma - Principle Secretary Planning department, Ram Khiladi Meena - Principal Secretary - Revenue, Colonisation and Army welfare department, Pradeep Sen - Chairman - Indira Gandhi Nahar Pariyojna, Jaipur, Damodar Sharma - Member - Rajasthan Civil Services Appellate Tribunal, Jaipur, Devendra Bhushan Gupta - Principal Secretary Agriculture, Manohar Kant Kalohiya - Principal Secretary Tribal Area Development, Mrs. Seema Bahuguna - Principal Resident Commissioner, New Delhi, Dr. Lalit Mehra - Principal Secretary - Labour and Employmemnt and Commissioner - Labour Department, Rajiv Swarup - Principal Secretary, Higher Education department, Madhukar Gupta - Divisional Commissioner Jaipur, Yaduvendra Mathur - CMD - Rajasthan Finance Corporation, Jaipur, Siyaram Meena - IG, Stamps and Registration, Bhaskar Atmaram Sawant - Divisional Commissioner and Commissioner , TAD, Udaipur, Ajitabh Sharma - MD, Rajasthan Mines and Minerals Ltd., Udaipur, Dinesh Kumar - Commissioner, Excise department, Naveen jain - Director, Panchayati Raj, Ambarish Kumar - Collector and District Magistrate, Sriganganagar, Joga Ram - Collector and District Magistrate, Jhunjhunu, Mrs. Poonam - Collector and District Magistrate, Dungarpur, V sarvan Kumar - Collector and District Magistrate, Bara and Muktanand Agarwal - Special Officer (Personnel), Rajasthan, Jaipur.

Pakistan : Former Establishment Secretary is Secretary Narcotics Division
Pakistan's Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani announced in the National assembly on Monday that Sohail Ahmed former establishment secretary who was side lined as OSD in the same Ministry apparently for complying with a directive of the apex court had since been posted as Secretary in the Narcotics Division in compliance of the apex court's wishes. The move followed the SC lifting its earlier ultimatum to the federal government to reappoint Sohail as Establishment Secretary and issuing a direction that the officer be appointed as Secretary - in any department - under the federal government instead. These latest developments have averted a shoe down between the federal government and the apex court at least for the time being.

Monika Sehgal Garg gets additional charge of DG NIFT (UPDATED)
Monika Sehgal Garg, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Textiles has been given additional charge of Director General, National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT). She is 1989 batch IAS officer of UP cadre.

Uneasiness in FM's room when accused telco majors came face to face (UPDATED)
Bureaucratic circles are agog with rumours that there was an uneasiness felt in the room Of the Maharashtra Finance minister when Ratan Tata came face to face with Anil Ambani. Also the presence of Sunil Mittal, who is said to be responsible for bringing out the 2 G scam in public added the third dimension in the room. Bureaucracy is abuzz about the expressions and body language of Tatas, Ambanis and Mittals.

CORPORATE

Corporate circles hopeful of several reforms
Corporate circles are hopeful that the Union government, after a long hiatus, was now proactively working on bringing in several reforms including those in land acquisition bill, mining and minerals bill, opening up of foreign direct investment in retail sector, nod to the Cairn- Vedanta , Reliance- BP deal etc. The industry hopes that most of these bills will get passed or debated in the Monsoon session of Parliament.

V.K. Sharma takes over as CMD,TCIL
V.K.Sharma who is Director Projects has taken over additional charge of CMD, TCIL on August 2,2011 from R.K. Upadhyay. The latter is CMD, BSNL. However, Upadhyay concurrently held the charge till Tuesday morning.

Will CBI probe Ambani's land deal with Wakf Board?
Will the CBI probe Mukesh Ambani's land deal with the Wakf Board? Grapevine has it that the Maharashtra government has been asked to furnish information about the deal viz. the process adopted by Ambanis in acquiring the land in question. The land has been used by Mukesh Ambani to build his house Antillia. Sources say that the probe would be focused on why the Wakf board land that is given to a charitable institution was sold for building a house and who authorised the sale and registered the new property.

Shankar Raman to be CFO Larsen and Toubro ?
Larsen and Toubro's senior vice-president, finance, R Shankar Raman is likely to be appointed chief financial officer Larsen and Toubro.

Sriram resigns as VP (Corporate Strategy), MIRC Electronics Ltd
K Sriram, Vice President ( Corporate Strategy) at MIRC Electronics Ltd has put in his papers at the company.

Shroff appointed Addl. Director, Delta Magnets Ltd
Delta Magnets Limited has appointed Ram Shroff as Additional Director of the Company with effect from August 1, 2011.

Subramaniam resigns as Director, Mindtree Ltd
Rajesh Subramaniam has resigned as Director of Mindtree Ltd w.e.f July 31, 2011.

Krishnan resigns as Company Secy. Vijay Shanthi Builders Ltd
Ms. Kamakshi Krishnan, Company Secretary, Vijay Shanthi Builders Ltd has resigned from the Company w.e.f July 30, 2011.

Patel appointed Company Secy. Vijay Shanthi Builders Ltd
Ms Hiral K. Patel has been appointed as the Company Secretary of Vijay Shanthi Builders Ltd effective from August 1, 2011.

Mandawewala ceases to be Director, Nilkamal Ltd
Rajesh Mandawewala has ceased to be Additional Director of Nilkamal Ltd with effect from August 1, 2010 on completion of term of his office.

Raghavendran retires as Director, Manali Petrochemical Ltd
G Raghavendran, Director, Manali Petrochemical Ltd retired at the company's Annual General Meeting held on July 29, 2011.

Sivagnanam resigns as Director, Manali Petrochemical Ltd
M Sivagnanam, Director, Manali Petrochemical Ltd has resigned as a Director of the Company.

Manali Petrochemical Ltd appoints new directors
Brigadier (Retd) Harish Chandra Chawla, Sanjiv Ralph Noronha and Muthukrishnan Ravi have been appointed as directors of Manali Petrochemical Ltd the Company.

Ravi to take over as MD, Manali Petrochemical Ltd from Oct 1, 2011
Muthukrishnan Ravi will take over as the Managing Director of Manali Petrochemical Ltd with effect from October 1, 2011 from G Ramachandran who will, thereafter, continue as a Non-executive, Non-independent Director of the Company.

Kathariya appointed Company Secy. Next Mediaworks Ltd
Ms Aarti Kathariya has been appointed as the Company Secretary of Next Mediaworks Ltd w.e.f. August 1, 2011.

Shenoy appointed Independent Director, IDBI Bank Ltd
IDBI Bank Limited has appointed P S Shenoy as Independent Director of the Bank.

Busch appointed Addl. Director, Siemens Ltd
Dr. Roland Busch has been appointed as an Additional Director (nominee of Siemens AG, Germany) of Siemens Ltd with effect from July 29, 2011

Schneider appointed Alternate Director, Siemens Ltd
Stephan Schneider has been appointed as an Alternate Director to Dr Roland Busch on the Board of Siemens Ltd effective July 29, 2011.

Increase Interest Rate on GPF Deposits

There is no change in interest rate on GPF deposits for last 10 years. It is still 8 % p.a. However interest rate on EPF and Bank deposits has gone upto 9.5% p.a. The Finance Ministry should also consider the interest rate on GPF deposits at par with EPF.

H.K. Deewan

Why can't the government run MMTC ?

Why can't the government run MMTC and do all the mining export. Why such a hue and cry, when the government has a solution on hand. The miners can supply the ore to the MMTC. Why waste money on commissions and investigations ?

Gopinath Jagirdar

CGHS scheme needs a total revamp

Government needs to simplify procedures so that employees do not to run from pillar to post to get one medical treatment. For the beginning, why should hospitalization needs any referral from CGHS dispensary? Why can't Government simply allow in-house treatment from the notified hospitals without the requirement of referrals?

Most notified hospitals also have functioning OPD's. Why can't patient go straight to these OPD's for their treatment?

Why should government buy medicines? Why can't the medicines prescribed by the doctors be bought by the patients from the open market?

I don't understand the logic of such cumbersome bureaucratic rules surrounding the whole CGHS scheme which has led to creation of a parallel mafia. Current era demands simplification of rules and procedures. The cost of bureaucracy for management of the CGHS scheme is much higher than the cost of leakages it is supposed to prevent.

MB

Cashless treatment for CGHS card holders

I fully agree with. Dinesh Sharma's views about the treatment of retired officials on cashless basis. It is surprising that the private hospitals are not treating CGHS beneficiary in first instance on cash-less basis. They argue too much and always claims we don't have such circulars from Ministry of Health and family welfare. Can some one from the Ministry helps to resolve such problems. It is becoming more troublesome when number of hospitals have been empanelled and you can approach directly for treatment even for dental consultation. What is the use of such empanelment? Can the procedure be made simple?

Ashok Kumar

It's not in good taste

The reaction to the lament of an IRS officer to the gap in promotion vis-a-vis IAS and IA&AS by an IA&AS officer is in bad taste. It is a fact that there is wide disparity between the IAS and other services. This is deliberate. This disparity had been the cause of frustration among other services. When the Fourth Pay Commission Report came this was one subject of representation by so many services. It was then decided by the Group Of Ministers that the Gap should not be more than two years which had been over a period of time came to be interpreted 'at least two years' and in actual practice has become so wide as much as a decade. The sad part is that among other services also there is wide disparity. Some services like IA&AS are ahead(in fact in time) while promotions in others like IRS are so much behind. Why only IRS? When you compare the five Group A Accounts services, the situation is so discouraging. For example when the officers of,1994, 1995 batch have got their SAG in IA&AS, Indian Defence Accounts service, Indian Civil Accounts Service and even P&T Finance Accounts Service, in Indian Railway Accounts Service 1990 batch is still waiting. Rank may not remain relevant once you join a service but it does rankle one when being above in merit list one is left behind. When one appeared for Examination and gave one's options most of us the oldtimers (Today's crop of youth may be more calculating)did not know much about the pros or cons of each service. Secondly even those services which were better off(like IRAS)then have deteriorated by the share apathy of the cadre-controlling authority. In their case irrelevant factors like comparisons with the technical services have also been played up while the real comparison should be among the non-technical services recruited under the same civil services exam. by the UPSC.I would therefore put much of the blame on the cadre-controlling authorities for not being sensitive and pushy enough to promote their officers in time. The personnel policies do need an overhaul to narrow this disparity because this divide among the services is really bad for good governance. The powers that be should address this issue. Administrative reforms do not hinge on jargons and pompous sounding procedures but on issues like these. Frustration could be one big cause for incompetence and corruption too.

Aarti Khosla

Parity in promotions

There have been intense arguments as to parity in promotions of IRS vis a vis IAS and other services. Whatever the views, it is wrong to term IRS as service behind private perks etc., IRS certainly has contributed to growing collections of tax. having IRS is like having a police man manning traffic. Remove him, no body will follow traffic rules and the same inference applies here also. Problems facing the country are not from lower collection of taxes but on actual spending. Which service is responsible for this is anybody's guess.

PK

"Childish rants" ?

Dear Editor-in-chief

It is distressing to note that, of late, your site is being misused and abused by some browsers by posting views/counterviews for promoting inter-services hatred. It does neither help the country, nor the organised Services nor the public-at-large. Why not, instead, focus on issues facing the country along with redressal of public grievances?

A K Saxena (A retired civil servant)

Only solution to futher delay in empanelment as Secretary and further demoralisation of Addl Secy's is to empanel 1978 batch this week and give them in-situ promotion as was done for 1977 batch. Then do 2 batches a year so that the civil service get some happiness.

Rita

It is not true

This regarding comments of Raju reg. promotion of Grade D and criticising DoPT for not caring about the promotion of Gr.D Stenographers and his comment that PSO /Sr.PPS/ PPS leave the office at 5.30 pm sharp. I do not agree with him because recently many stenographers D have been made Grade C by DOPT. He should not curse DOPT for promotion because Steno D is given opportunity to clear examination of PA and there after examination of PS. Secondly his comment about PSO/Sr.PPS is also not correnct. Most of the PSOs/Sr. PPS sit late. I have been working with Secretaries for the last 20 years most of my senior colleagues use to sit late till the Secretary leaves the office. Even at present my senior colleague is lady PSO who also sits late. PSO/Sr.PPS have got other number of tasks to perform like screening of urgent files and papers. Giving appointments after screening and so many urgent tasks he/she has to attend. I do not think that there is any harm if PSO/Sr.PPS gives some work to his junior colleagues. One should not blame whole class for some few people.

"Lokpal Bill V/S PM"

Keeping the Prime Minister outside the Lokpal Bill, would be a disaster for the democracy in the country.Your site must spearhead the movement.

Santanu Mukherji IAS ( Retd)

Iqbal Krishna

PM be brought under Lokpal Bill

Prime Minister must be brought under the Lokpal Bill. This is quite necessary now in view of the PM's hands in the selection of Kalmadi as the head of CWG Organising Committee.

Tara Vajpayee

Finest officer

Shankar Bidari is a finest officer with great leadership qualities. Known for hard work and risk taking abilities

RS

Best wishes

Kindly convey may best wishes to Mukesh Joshi on his elevation to the high post.

R Bharadwaj

He is down to earth

Ajaybhai take good step. He is very down to earth person, as he always give respect to all friends. I heartily wish for his career.

Prashant Patel, Journalist, Gujarat Dot Com

Opinion given by Ministry of Law and Justice

The Appellant sought information regarding the legal opinion provided by the Ministry of Law & Justice in respect of an incident for which action is being contemplated against Shri Pranav Kumar (IAS 2008 Batch, Bihar Cadre) under Rule 12 (d) of the IAS (Probation) Rules, 1954. The Ministry of Law informed the CIC that its opinion on any given issue is tendered on the file received from the concerned department. This opinion becomes a part of the File which is eventually returned to the Department concerned. The Commission clarified that the records of any advice / opinion tendered by the Ministry to other Government Departments do not fall under the category of fiduciary capacity and Section 8 (1) (e) is not attracted. The Commission held that the decision in respect of disclosure of the legal opinion given by the Law Ministry to the concerned under the RTI Act, has to be made by the Department seeking that advice.

Comments

There exists a two-way channel connecting the Law Ministry with any other Department of the Central Government. On one way, the File seeking opinion travels from the concerned Department to the Law Ministry and on the other way, the opinion tendered on that File travels from the Ministry of Law to the concerned Department. If the advice given by the Law Ministry is accepted as fiduciary, then such information which will never be disclosed in any contingency u/s 8 (1) (e) of the RTI Act even if the concerned Department is willing to disclose such opinion which is under its control.

[Shri Rajiv Ranjan Verma v. Ministry of Law and Justice in Appeal No.CIC/SS/A/2011/000886].

- Weekly article by Dr. (Mrs.) Anuradha Verma
(dranuradhaverma@yahoo.co.in), RTI Consultant to IIM, Indore and Co-author of the book: RIGHT TO INFORMATION - LAW AND PRACTICE by Taxmann. (The views are Personal)