I regularly visit your website. The whispers given on the website are so accurate that they should be called CURRENT NEWS than calling them WHISPERS. These (accurate) whispers have removed rumours (negative energy) and rumour mongers from the corridors, which in turn is also increasing the working efficiency in the offices. I admire you for your capabilities.

Rajesh Bahal

Contact-suresh.mehrotra@yahoo.com> &

<mehrotra.suresh@gmail.com>

Lamba to be Special Secretary Agriculture
A S Lamba is being moved as Special Secretary Agriculture in the Government of India.He is 1977 batch IAS Officer of West Bengal cadre.

Bahuguna to be Additional Secretary Agriculture
Ashish Bahuguna is being moved as Additional Secretary Agriculture in the Government of India.He is 1978 batch IAS officer of Rajasthan cadre.

Centre updating dossier on IAS officers
The Central government has started updating its dossier on IAS officers. In doing so, the department of personnel and training (DoPT) has written to all the state governments asking them to update the records about the officers as to whether any cases and of what nature were pending against them. The Centtre, it is learnt, has taken this step after criticism by the Supreme Court - on its ignorance about corruption cases against P.J. Thomas.

More delay in new guidelines for banks
As the grapevine has it, there is going to be more delay in finalizing new guidelines for selection of senior bankers for filling up slots of Chairman and Managing Directors (CMDs) & Executive Directors (EDs) in public sector banks.

Dr. Joshi yet to decide new Chief of NHAI
Indian Minister for Road Transport & Highways Dr. C.P. Joshi is yet to decide about new Chairman of the NHAI.

Singh to join GOI as JS, Steel
Upendra Prasad Singh is all set to join Government of India as Joint Secretary, Ministry of Steel. He is 1985 batch IAS officer of Orissa cadre.

Central govt to tighten noose on ED, DRI
The Central government is all set to tighten control over the Enforcement Directorate and the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) on their right to tap phones. A committee headed by cabinet secretary K.M. Chandrashekhar has already recently recommended that the central board of direct taxes or the income tax department be barred from tapping phones. All recommendations will, however, be implemented only after consultations between the home ministry and the ministry of finance.

Lobbying for post of ED, IDBI starts
With the spread of news regarding a certain elevation of Sushil Muhnot lobbying has begun for the slot of Executive Director (ED) in IDBI. It may be stated that Sushil Muhnot is poised to head SIDBI. Regarding his elevation we had said in December 2010.

Mehra and Salwan to be Judges of Delhi High Court ?
Rajeeve Mehra and Anusuya Salwan are likely to be appointed Judge of the Delhi High Court.

Delhi government proposes, MHA disposes
Appointment regarding posts of Chief Secretary and Principal Secretary (Home) in Delhi Government is finalized by Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) at the centre. Delhi Government only proposes the names of incumbents for these posts, but a final decision is taken by the MHA.

Narendra Kumar relieved from Goa
Narendra Kumar, IAS (1988), who so far was Commissioner & Secretary to the Governor of Goa has been relieved to join as Administrator Daman. He was also holding charge of Transport, Information & Publicity besides Archives & Archaeology and Gazetteer in Goa.

Dash empanelled as JS in GoI
A K Dash has reportedly been empanelled to the rank of Joint Secretary in the Government of India. He is 1984 batch Indian Postal Service officer.

Kudos to MP CM: Shivraj Singh Chouhan
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan who is known for his large and warmheartedness has won a lot accolades through his recen gesture. It was the death of veteran Congress leader Arjun Singh. Unlike other politicians (be it Congress or be it BJP) he extended all possible help in Delhi and in Churhat (home turf of late Arjun Singh). Not only this much, but he was in Churhat for five hours on March 6, 2011 while the departed leader was being cremated.He had also visited the ailing leader in AIIMS also.

Interview for Member (Judicial), CE&TAP
Interview for the post of Member Judicial Custom-Excise and Tax Appeal Tribunal (CE & TAP) will be held on March 19, 2011.

Member PESB Jain gets extension
V.S. Jain, Member Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB), has got extension for a period of 5 months.

OSSC is headless in Orissa
The Odisha Staff Selection Commission (OSSC) is headless since October 1, 2010 after the term of former Director General of Police Gopal Chandra Nanda came to an end .The Orissa Government has no time to fill the vacancy.

Four retired IPS to be TMC candidate in West Bengal
Four retired IPS officers will contest Vidhan Sabha election on the Tirnamool Congress Ticket.

IAS changes in Uttar Pradesh
Mukul Singhal has been appointed Principal Secretary Rural Development in UP.Manoj Kumar Singh will now be PS Food Processing.

Bipin Chakrabarty is FCI's DGM in Bangalore
Bipin Chakrabarty has joined as the Bangalore based Deputy General Manager (Finance & Accounts) with the Food Corporation of India (FCI).Before joining FCI he was working as Senior Manager with the Andhra Bank.

Ms. I.B. Rani goes to NPA for training
Ms. I.B. Rani, DCP (East District) has gone to Hyderabad located National Police Academy (NPA) for Mid Career Training. Ms. Rani is under transfer out side Delhi. She is an IPS officer of the 2000 batch who belongs to the AGMU cadre.

Ved Prakash is acting Chairman of UGC
Government is not interested to appoint new Chairman of the UGC. Ved Prakash has been appointed acting Chairman.

Rao empanelled as JS
M N S Rao has been empanelled to the rank of Joint Secretary in the Government of India. He is 1985 batch Indian Postal Service Officer.

CCI Member P.N. Parashar to retire in July
P.N. Parashar, Member of the Competition Commission of India (CCI), is due to retire in July 2011.

Who will be CIC in Himachal Pradesh ?
Who will succeed PS Rana as Chief Information Commissioner in Himachal Pradesh ? Though there are one dozen contenders for the post, the tie is mainly said to be between former Chief Secretary Asha Swarup and former army officer Lt Gen B S Jamwal.

Pakistan SC trains its guns on retired officers given extension in service
The Supreme Court in Pakistan is all set to curb the growing tendency to give extension in service after superannuation to favoured civil servants by the political masters. Some of the most important posts in the country are held by officers reemployed by misusing section 14 of the Civil Servants Act of 1973 that permits the government to reemploy civil servants even after his retirement if such reemployment is in public interest and is done with prior approval of the authority next higher than the appointing authority. The Secretary General and Secretary to President Zardari, Secretaries of both the houses of Parliament, Defence Secretary and Secretary Defence Production are all such officers who have got extensions under sec 14. Last month government had agreed to terminate the services of about a dozen such officers - bulk of them being senior police and intelligence officers - in compliance of the apex court's direction given in specific cases. Now while the court wants across the board action in all such cases, the government wants to consider the court's direction on a case to case basis.

Bhaskar to be PS to AP Chief Minister ?

Joint Secretary IPP in the Government of India V Bhaskar is returning to the parent Andhra Pradesh cadre.It is believed that 1981 batch IAS officer Bhaskar is going to be new Principal Secretary to the AP Chief Minister.

IOOA delegation calls on MoS for Petroleum
A delegation of Indian Oil Officers Association (IOOA) led by its president Mukul Kumar met Indian Minister of State(MoS) for Petroleum & Natural Gas RPN Singh in his office in New Delhi . The IOOA president informed the Minister that body represents 14000 plus officers of Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. The Minister was also briefed about IOOA's views about the impediments being faced by the PSU Oil Companies and their early resolution, for securing the energy requirements of country. The Minister welcomed the suggestions made by Indian Oil Officers related to the welfare issues and assured the delegation of his active support.

Dr. Patwardhan takes over as Vice-Chancellor SIU
Symbiosis International University has appointed Dr. Bhushan Keshav Patwardhan as its Vice Chancellor on the recommendations submitted by a Search-cum-Selection Committee constituted as per the University Grants Commission Regulation-2010. The Committee - which consisted of Dr.R.A.Mashelkar - Chairman and Nominee of the Board of Management, Dr.Dinesh Singh - Nominee of the Government of India and Dr.Venkat R. Gunale - Nominee of the Chancellor-Symbiosis International University - submitted its recommendations to Dr. S.B. Mujumdar, Chancellor of the University.

Who is to be blamed for cane charge in Nagpur ?
Who is to be blamed for cane charge in Nagpur on cricket fans on March 8,2011? This question is hotly being discussed in corridors of power and sports arena. As the grapevine has it the problem of getting a ticket for the March 12 match between India and South Africa has become so gigantic because most the seats have been either cornered by the ICC or by the BCCI. Moreover, in hush,hush tones people are denouncing alleged rigid
attitude being adopted by BCCI people. It is also being asked that why locals were not having a smooth sail in getting tickets for the match.

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

Who will be winner ?
A question was asked at a high-profile party as to who will be winner in India's Petroleum Sector - Ambanis or Vedantas ? Answer to this question came from a very senior retired bureaucrat "Prime Minister may be with Anil Agrawal of Vedanta but the other machinery right from Desk officer to the Secretary including the PMO is with Ambanis".

B.K. Mishra to be CMD, CCI
B.K. Mishra, Director & FA, National Textile Corporation (NTC), has been appointed as Chairman and Managing Director (CMD), Cotton Corporation of India (CCI).

LIC Chairman -3 insiders in fray
If selection for new LIC Chairman is done from the within, then there are three candidates: They are: T. Mathew, D.K. Mehrotra and T.S. Vijayan.

Mayr appointed Whole-time Director, Steel Strips Wheels Ltd
Steel Strips Wheels Ltd has reappointed Ms Ute Mayr as Whole Time Director of the company.

Choudhary re-appointed MD, Hindustan Composites Ltd
Hindustan Composites Ltd has re-appointed P. K. Choudhary as Managing Director for a further period of two years w.e.f. March 18, 2011.

Bala to head Zee's International Business in US
Suresh Bala, who quit Zoom as CEO in June 2010, will now be heading Zee's international business in the United States.

Suryavanshi joins Amtek India as Company Secy.
Ms. Shallu Suryavanshi has joined the Amtek India Company as Company Secretary in place of Ms. Monika Sachdeva.

Sequeira appointed National Creative Director, Cheil Worldwide
Cheil Worldwide Southwest Asia has appointed Elvis Sequeira as National Creative Director.

Vasudevan ceases to be Director, Superstar Distilleries
S. Vasudevan ceased to be a Director of Superstar Distilleries & Foods Ltd w.e.f. January 31, 2011 due to withdrawal of nomination by State Bank of Travencore.

Kapadia appointed Addl. Director, Asian Oilfield Services
Asian Oilfield Services Ltd has appointed Ajit C. Kapadia as an Additional Director on the Board of Directors of the Company w.e.f. February 8, 2011.

Khandelwal no longer ED (Accounts), CONCOR
Ravi Khandelwal, Executive Director (Accounts) & Company Secetary has been relieved from the services of Container Corporation of India Ltd (CONCOR)

Chandra made Group GM, CONCOR
Harish Chandra, Group General Manager (Finance) North Central Region has been appointed as Group General Manager (Finance ) and Company Secretary, CONCOR.

New CMO of Samsung India
Elkana Ezekiel has been appointed as its Chief Marketing Officer by the Samsung India.

FORUM

DEBATE (1)

Of course, the younger generation is losing interest in defence services. Why should they undergo hardship without and reciprocal recognition or adequate remuneration. They have seen the 6SPC fiasco and the manner in which defence services had to stand up to demand their basic due. Even todays' defence officers are telling their sons not to join defence.

What was earlier a profession of honour has been reduced to just another career by the politicians & bureaucrats.

Harri

DEBATE (2)

The youth today wants a cu shylife of multinationals where money is in abundance and life is comfortable. The youth is not inclined for the tough life of the Defence service. The cases of corruption in Defence services have also disillusioned the youth.

S C Agrawal

Potential Foreign Secretaries required

Many of our Ambassadors have a tendency to identify themselves with the country they are accredited to than the country they represent. They become advocates of the interests of the country they are posted to. Some times it goes even against our national interests. A typical example is that of K.M. Panikkar who was our first ambassador to Communist China. He mixed up the words suzeirinity with soverignity and - with Nehru - was responsible for surrendering our rights in Tibet and allowing total invasion of Tibet by China and bringing China to our border. It was during the tenure of the present NSA as our Foreign Secretary, our PM made the most foolish joint statement with Pakistan in Sharm el sheikh practically admitting India's involvement in Baluchistan. He was earlier our Ambassador in Pakistan. The present Foreign Secretary was our Amassador to China. She had the dubious distinction of getting woken up at 2AM and being called to their foreign office to get a protest letter on some trivial issue and lumping that insult without even a murmur. Perhaps she has not got out of the shock even now though she justified it later as routine Chinese behaviour. Diplomats like Mani Shankar Iyer having sold their souls to Pakis become their vibrant ambassadors in India justifying their entire ill conceived actions. Foreign Ministry should post potential Foreign Secretaries to countries like USA rather than Pakistan or China.

Navnith

Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely

L'affaire Thomas ( of CVC ) confirms the dictum- Power corrupts, Absolute power corrupts absolutely. The way things are going, wrong to say that India is a democracy. It is an autocracy with a more sinister tinge, since you can not see the many autocrats , seemingly faceless in a Committee.

BC

Letter on Keralite bureaucrats was unfortunate

A recent letter on Keralite bureaucrats in WIC was unfortunate. Sri K.M. Chandrasekhar, G.K. Pillai and Sivasankara Menon ( and FS, Nirupama Menon nee Rao also) are outstanding officers and come up in their careers due to their own merit. One can never think of them getting involved in the CVC Thomas fiasco. Same can not be said of T.K.A. Nair(Punjab Cadre). Nair's activities are mostly underground reportedly in interfering in postings and canvassing for business lobbies. When his counterpart during Vajpayee's time, Brijesh Misra used to interact with world leaders and used to talk to people like US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice on equal terms, Sri Nair finds solace in working as an under ground hatchet man for the dynasty. And this is why such officers though retired more than one and half decades ago are still in demand.

N Sriram

Time is ripe for the next CVC appointment!

Who could be the next choice, one with high integrity and at the same time tough!! Keeping the fact that G.K. Pillai is getting retired soon, could he be the choice? Wait and watch.

Arudran

Misuse of the Act

The appellant sought information regarding grant in aid given to DAV College etc. and was offered the opportunity to inspect all the records. He instead filed second appeal before the Commission. Respondents stated that the appellant was in the habit of filing RTI applications and had filed 250 RTI applications to date through which he sought voluminous and old information. Usually, the appellant does not appear before the First Appellate Authority when his appeal comes

live for receiving the information. They submitted that the appellant who is a former contractual employee of D.A.V. College has already been provided information under the present RTI application running into over 200 pages and have so far provided him thousands of pages of
information against his other RTI applications. The Commission ruled that such vexatious applications can be summarily dismissed at the level of the CPIO since it is obvious that these applications are not being preferred in public interest and are in fact adversely impacting
the functioning of the public authority instead of strengthening it, which is contrary to the letter and spirit of the RTI Act.

Comments

Cases where the appellant is misusing the RTI Act to settle personal scores with his former employer are not uncommon. This ruling provides a definitive way for summarily dismissing those applications at the level of the PIO which causes disruption in normal work and strain on
the financial resources.

Dr. Rajender K. Singla vs. O/o Director, Higher Education, Chandigarh in CIC/LS/C/2009/000770DS

- 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)