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T V S Narayan

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LIC chief: outsider vs. insider ?
In government insurance sector it is keenly being observed that whether an internal candidate or an outsider will be brought incumbent as new Chairman of the LIC.

Commercial banks to implement 'second factor verification'
The Commercial banks in India will soon be made to implement the facility of 'second factor verification' to avoid any room for fraud at merchant establishments and ATMs.

Naval Commander files statutory complaint with Defence Ministry
Southern Naval Commander Vice Admiral K N Sushil is learnt to have filed a statutory complaint with the Defence Ministry stating his claim to become chief of Indian Navy's sword arm, the Western Navy -- after the present incumbent Vice Admiral Sanjeev Bhasin retires next month -- should not be overlooked as he would be the seniormost commander after the Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Nirmal Verma.

Process for filling up post Director-Technical, CSL on
Process for filling up the post of Director Technical of the Cochin Shipyard Ltd (CSL) is on. The post will be falling vacant when V Radhakrishnan. Director (Technical) of the Cochin Shipyard Ltd (CSL) retires in August 2011.

Lalhuma is new CIC of Nagaland
Former Chief Secretary Lalhuma, has been appointed the new Chief Information Commissioner Nagaland .He is retired 1974 batch IAS officer.

Suchindra Mishra, Director (Expenditure) gets extension
Suchindra Mishra, Director (Expenditure) in the Ministry of Finance Government of India (GOI) has been given an extension for 3 months. He is an Indian Defence Account Service (IDAS) Cadre officer of the 1992 batch.

Manoj Sahai returns to his parent cadre
Manoj Sahai, Director (Expenditure) in the central government's Ministry of Finance has pre-maturely returned to his parent cadre. He is an Indian Accounts & Audit Service (IA&AS) Cadre officer of the1994 batch.

Pankaj Mishra, Director -MHA completes his deputation
Pankaj Mishra Director (I.S.II) in the central government's Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) after completion of his central deputation has been relieved to join his parent cadre .He is an IRS (IT) Cadre officer of the 1986 batch.

Sankatha Prasad empanelled as JS
Sankatha Prasad has been empanelled to the rank of Joint Secretary in the Government of India.He is 1980 batch IFS officer of Rajasthan cadre.

Arvind Ray is new Home Secretary Delhi
Arvind Ray will be the new Home Secretary of Delhi.He is 1984 batch IAS officer of UT cadre.

Selvaraj is new Secretary GDA Delhi
B Selvaraj, the Urban Development Secretary, will be the new Secretary and Commissioner in the GDA. He is 1981 batch IAS officer of UT cadre.

Sandeep Kumar Pandey is FCI's DGM in Mumbai
Sandeep Kumar Pandey has joined as the Mumbai based Deputy General Manager (Finance & Accounts) with the Food Corporation of India (FCI).Before joining FCI he was working in the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL).

Two CCITs get additional charge
Satya Prakash , CCIT - Nashik has been given the additional charge of CCIT - Pune and Brijesh Gupta, DGIT (Investigations) Bhopal, has been given the additional charge of DGIT Investigations) Jaipur.

Six IRS officials promoted as Chief Commissioners of Customs & Central Excise
As many as six Indian Revenue Service (Customs & Central Excise) officers have been promoted from the grade of Commissioner of Customs & Central Excise to the grade of the Chief Commissioner of Customs and Central Excise. They are Sudipto Nandi, J.P. Gregory, A.K. Mishra, Kusum Satpathy, M. Suresh and Om Prakash.

Seven Chief Commissioners of Customs & Central Excise transferred
Sudipto Nandi has been made Chief Commissioner Jaipur CX, J.P. Gregory - Chief Commissioner Bangalore CX, ( with additional charge of Chief Commissioner of Customs, Bangalore), A.K. Mishra - Chief Commissioner Lucknow CX, Kusum Satpathy - Chief Commissioner Chennai CX, M. Suresh - Chief Commissioner Mumbai-I CX, Om Prakash - Director General Audit Directorate, Delhi and B.R. Tripathi has been made Chief Departmental Representative, Delhi.

Last date for Chairman, BPT is March 25, 2011
Last date for the post of Chairman Bombay Port Trust(BPT),Bombay that has been advertised by Shipping Ministry is March 25, 2011.Currently Rahul Asthana an IAS officer of the 1978 batch who belongs to the Maharashtra cadre is Chairman BPT. He is poised to return to the state
cadre.

Shahbaz Bhatti was responsible for his own death says pakistan's minister for the interior
In what appears to be a cruel twist of irony in the Shahbaz Bhatti assassination case Mr Rehman Malik Pakistan's minister for interior has put the blame for the tragedy squarely on the slain minister himself. According to Mr Malik and some senior police officers responsible for VIP security the tragedy occurred because Mr Bhatti was in the habit of moving about alone without his security guards and even at the time of the shooting he was returning from his mother's house while the security personnel waited at his office cum residence nearby. 'If somebody himself doesn't want police security then I cannot be held responsible for the mishap' the Interior Minister said on Thursday forgetting that as per SOP for VIP security enforced by his own ministry the security personnel too were guilty of violations as they should not have allowed the slain minister to move around unaccompanied and should have reported the slain leader's habit of moving around alone to their superiors which apparently wasn't done.

Sanjay Dixit is much in demand
Sanjay Dixit an IAS officer(1986 batch) of the Rajasthan cadre who is currently Principal Secretary (PS) with the Rajasthan government is much in demand. Thanks to a mad rush for tickets relating matches of ongoing 2011 Cricket World Cup to be played in Indian cities. Dixit, who was a marine engineer before joining IAS, is now an honorary secretary of Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA). He is the same gentleman who had taken head on with IPL's ex Commissioner Lalit Modi. At the request of Vidarbha Cricket Association , Nagpur ,he had surrendered all his privileged- paid tickets. It may be stated here that Vidarbha Cricket Association ,Nagpur is going to host a match between India and South Africa on March 12, 2011. Even in case of Bangalore match such a request had come to him, but before Sanjay Dixit could act on the request a scam relating black marketing of fake tickets had come to light for the February 27 match between India and England. He had received a request from the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA).

Mad scramble for Cricket World cup tickets in Nagpur
There is a mad scramble for tickets relating to the match between India and South Africa to be played in Nagpur on March 12, 2011. The stadium Vidarbha Cricket Association, Nagpur has ac seating capacity of 40000 people. Of them 10000 best seats have been picked up by the ICC. Remaining good seats have gone to the BCCI. And the Vidarbha Cricket Association ,Nagpur is
left with hardly any seat.


DEBATE

ARE PEOPLE LOSING INTEREST IN DEFENCE SERVICES THESE DAYS ?

What do you think? Why people are losing interest in Defence Services? Have they lost attraction because they are no more that lucrative as they have been earlier or there is a decline of 'nationalism' among the people of country these days. There is a shortage of over 12,000 officers at the junior and the middle rung alone in the Defence services in the country.

Mail your 'to the point' views in brief at

suresh.mehrotra@yahoo.com or mehrotra.suresh@gmail.com

CORPORATE

Former NHPC Chairman in trouble
Former NHPC CMF Yogendra Prasad is in deep trouble .The Uttarakhand High Court has vacated the stay on arrest of Prasad.

K Satyanarayana is Manager ONGC Tripura
K Satyanarayana, Group General Manager (GGM) has taken over the charge of Asset Manager-ONGC Tripura Asset .

Lowe Lintas India appoints Sabyasachi Mishra as CGO
Lowe Lintas India, in its bid to further strengthen the senior management team, has appointed Sabyasachi Mishra as Chief Growth Officer (CGO). He has nearly 20 years experience in leading teams, offices and clients across Lowe offices in Asia.

Pushkar Sane quits Starcom MediaVest
Pushkar Sane, Chief Digital Officer, Starcom MediaVest, has put in his papers. He was based out of Hong Kong as Global Head of Social Marketing Practice. Starcom MediaVest is one of the largest media consulting, planning and buying firms globally.

Nair appointed as Company Secy. GI Engineering Solutions
Deeraj C. Nair has been appointed as the Company Secretary and Compliance Officer of GI Engineering Solutions in place of Kishor Talreja who has resigned from the services.

Sohony resigns as Director, BS Transcomm Ltd
D G Sohony, Whole-time Director of BS Transcomm Ltd has tendered his resignation from the office of Director of the Company citing personal reasons on February 28, 2011.

Shah to join Axis Bank soon?
Nilesh Shah who recently quit ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund as Fund Manager is joining Axis Bank.

Bhargava joins as President (New Business Dev.) CESC
Anup Bhargava has joined as President ( New Business Development Division) of The Calcutta Electricity Supply Corporation (CESC) on March 1, 2011.

Singh to quit Henkel India as MD?
Henkel India MD Jayant Singh is quitting the company two years after he took over as Managing Director.

Joshi resigns as Company Secy. Pritish Nandy Communications
Nirav Joshi, Company Secretary has resigned from Pritish Nandy Communications Ltd and his resignation is accepted by the Board of Directors of the Company with effect from February 21, 2011.

Upadhyay appointed Company Secy. Pritish Nandy Communications
Anand Upadhyay has been appointed as Company Secretary of Pritish Nandy Communications Ltd with effect from February 22, 2011.

Mittal resigns as Director, Welspun Syntex Ltd
M. L. Mittal, Director , Welspun Syntex Ltd has resigned from the office of Director w.e.f. February 14, 2011.

Kale appointed as CEO, Welspun Syntex Ltd
B. A. Kale has been appointed as an Executive Director and CEO of Welspun Syntex Ltd w.e.f. October 30, 2010.

FORUM

Transparency in Public Appointments need of hour

Since now the Supreme Court has ruled that persons from other fields should also be considered for the post of CVC, therefore it would be in the fitness of things if persons who have been crusaders against corruption are given a fair chance. On what basis are the three names empanelled for being considered for the post of CVC? Is the post advertised or officers interested apply for the same? How come only three officers, all IAS Officers were empanelled in the last selection panel? Did Officers belonging to other services not apply for the post? DOPT should intimate the procedure & process of appointments to the public. There has to be transparency. Applications for appointment against all public posts should be called for through open advertisement. It is high time such important posts are not converted into a permanent asylum for retiring officers. One very well deserving name could be the present Chief of Army Staff, General V.K Singh - a bold, honest officer who has cleaned up the mess created by his predecessor General Deepak Kapoor involved in Gurgaon land allotment scam. While working in the rank of Lt. Gen. Singh had the guts to recommend action against four General-ranked officers indicted by a probe in the Sukhna land scam in Darjeeling district of West Bengal. General V.K Singh is the peoples General - simple, unassuming, humble but made of steel. Another exceptional choice could be retired Delhi High Court Judge Justice S.N Dhingra. His various judgements speak of the high principles of justice & a balm to the hopeless, desperate & despairing litigants. He is rightly called the Nyay Yodha i.e the Justice Warrior. A third name could be Kiran Bedi, she will sweep up the prevailing mess. By opening up the appointment procedure & making it transparent will enhance the credibility & esteem of these institutions. Except for N Vittal I do not recollect the name of a single Officer working as CVC who has made a difference. We have the excellent example of Shailesh Gandhi who does not belong to the Civil Services, & had accepted the post of Information Commissioner at a token salary of Re. 1 & did not accept SarkariBangla or Gaadi. A perusal of his well researched & meticulous decisions can only make me bow my head in reverence. No other Information Commissioners taking full salary & perks can hold a candle to him. Thus if the right person is selected for a post which involves upholding public trust & integrity it will lead to credibility & faith in an Organisation but if power mongers & asylum seekers are selected it will cause injury to the reputation, standing & credibility of an organization & people will lose faith in institutions which is not a healthy trend for thriving of democracy.

Lok Nath Mehra

On the final day of reckoning God will not look you over for medals, position or power, but for scars, sweats & endeavours.

This is the most outrageous & preposterous idea I have ever come across. Whoever is floating this idea of name of Malkangiri Collector for the coveted 'Prime Ministers Award for Excellence in Public Administration' has done a great disservice to the nation. If its true then 21st April will be a Black Day. What standards are we falling to. Now even awards are being freely doled out as favours to IAS Officers for doing nothing. To work for development of the District falls within the official duties of a District Magistrate & if he utilises the funds for the purpose these are meant for then he has only done his duty. The government has compensated him with salary, facilities, prestige of position etc. Awards should not be given out as a routine or is it because the standards have fallen to such an extent that anyone doing little bit of government work stands out as an exception & the government is grateful to him/her. This will only encourage Officers to adopt histrionics to gain attention & public eye.

If at all awards are to be given then it should be given to those Officers who have worked tirelessly & at grave personal risk of career, with no appreciation & who have been harassed by their superiors yet they have been working with quiet dedication & determination. Those Officers who have risked their career, which is their only source of income & thus put at stake everything-their very existence & subsistence, prestige & standing in society, been issued false chargesheets or implicated in false cases yet in the face of so much adversity they have the strong moral character & ethics to uphold their belief in honest work & have tirelessly upheld the interests of the organization or department they were working in. The recent case of a Haryana Indian Forest Service Officer of 2002 Batch Sanjiv Chaturvedi comes to my mind. he was harassed & given chargesheets, denied promotion & transferred 12 times in five years. All this harassment was for safeguarding government interest & for preventing the misuse of government funds. He opposed the destruction of the Saraswati Wildlife Sanctuary, home to the endangered hog deer by the Hansi Butana Canal, and then for exposing a multi-crore fake plantation scam in Jhajjar. The young Forest Officer stood his ground despite the IAS Babus in the Secretariat taking easier way out by opting to connive with politicians in persecuting him rather than apply their mind & commonsense & take decisions dispassionately.

Such Officers who are able to withstand all pressures should be encouraged so that youngsters entering the service get a clear message that honest & upright Officers alone will get recognition & respect. This will restore the faith of the people in administration. Only Officers who have been brave enough to face high & mighty corrupt politicians aided & abetted by highly placed IAS Babus & have gone beyond the call of duty should be given recognition & awarded. These awards should not be belittled by being wasted on people like Hardeep Singh Puri whose only name to fame has been to point out to Krishna his folly after a good many 10-11 lines were read out of the Portuguese Foreign Ministers Speech. The Civil Service needs a complete overhauling & crash courses & daily lessons in ethics & morality. The Civil Services Day is a day for introspection & Soul Searching & not for self congratulation for non existent paper achievements. The Civil Service owes an explanation for the ills plaguing our country.

DIMPY CHOPRA

Open all Cases of Appointment of Tainted Officers

The Apex Court judgment on CVC Thomas is an eye opener and warning to Government that there is no place for officers whose integrity is doubtful to hold high offices. The Court has aptly added that it is not the personal integrity but the integrity of the Institution, and if the selection of a person adversely affects institutional competency and functioning, such candidates should not be recommended. Thomas has since resigned but it is time to open all similar cases of appointments at high levels. One similar case is that of DG Central Statistics Office, a post at the level of Spl. Secretary in Government. As reported in these columns before, the present incumbent was charge-sheeted thrice in his career, including once for doubtful integrity. Penalty was imposed twice after disciplinary proceedings. As the court has said in Thomas case, vigilance is an integral part of all Government institutions and officers having a single "Daag" on their collars should not be appointed to high offices, not at all to head important institutions like CSO. Just like CVC appointment guidelines given by the Apex Court, the person empanelled as DG, CSO should be "Outstanding" civil servant and a person of "Impeccable Integrity". Will the new Minister open this case?

Surendra Mohan

Why Thomas is not resigning ?

Law Minister Moily should apologise to the Nation wrongly telling Media that Thomas has resigned . Why Thomas is not resigning in spite of SC's clear order and is so adamant and egoistic ? Why Manmohan is not an Indian first to protect our sovereign Constitution and always looking to the foreigner Sonia for decisions ? Obviously because Sonia wants to see all Christians on top posts of country and then flee to Italy when India shows signs like Libya or Egypt. But as voter should we allow this 16th Century East India Company like situation to happen ? Why Manmohan is not an Indian first to protect our sovereign Constitution and always looking to the foreigner Sonia for decisions ?

Rajiv

Prosecution record

Copies of certain documents were denied to the Applicant claiming that it consists of analysis of evidences by various decision taking authorities and their opinions thereon which has the potential to influence these evidences and to interfere with the proceedings of the court wherein prosecution of the Applicant is already under process. The Commission noted that copies of the relied upon documents submitted by the Respondents to the Court have already been provided
to the Applicant by the Court and that there is no order from the Court not to disclose any further information available with the Pubic Authority. The Commission directed to provide the documents after severing those portions that are exempt from disclosure under any of
the sub clauses of Section 8(1) of the RTI Act.

Comments

Public Authorities tend to avoid disclosure even after the filing of the charge-sheet, on various pretexts. With the filing of the charge-sheet which marks the end of the investigations, the documents should no longer be held as exempt.

Shri Vijai Singh Meena v. North Western Railway in File No: CIC/AD/A/2010/001543

- 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)