What people say about us !

Information available on your website is really useful and one has to surge this website to get update of happenings in government circles. I have been reading this website almost seven years now.
Mukesh Randev

Brahmin votes in UP to be divided?
Brahmins will vote to whom this time? Picture is not clear and the enmity between the Kanyakubja rahmins and the Saryupani Brahmins is well know.

BUREAUCRACY

26 IAS officers of 1978 batch empanelled
Altogether 26 IAS officers belonging to 1978 batch IAS have reportedly been empanelled to the rank of Secretary in the Government of India.Those who reportedly figure in the list are K N Desiraju,Vivek Rae, Saurabh Chandra, Pankaj Jain, Sanjay Kothari Javed Usmani, Rajiv Mehrishi,Arvind Mayaram, Rakesh Singh, G C Pati, Prem Narain, Anoop Mishra, S K Srivastava, S R Rao, Sudhir Kumar, Anil Goswami, Vijay Chibbar, R S Sharma, M F Farooqui, K N Srivastava,V Rajgopalan, U K Sangma ,Pankaj Agrawal, Stuti Narain Kackar, Ashish Bahuguna and R Bhattacharya.
(We said about the number on Wednesday)

Who will be Secretary equivalent in GoI
If insiders are to be believed 1978 batch IAS officers who are retiring in 2012 and 2013 have been empanelled to the rank of Secretary equivalent in the Government of India. 17 officers are said to be in that list.

Only 26 out of 134 are the lucky officers
This time out of the total batch of 134 only 26 IAS officers belonging to 1978 batch have been empanelled to the rank of Secretary in the Government of India. Out of the total 134, presently 94 are serving in the country.

PMO is not happy with empanelment
The PMO is reportedly unhappy with the new empanelment policy. The file was returned to the Cabinet Secretariat with reservation asking for the change in the empanelment policy.

Empanelment or elimination?
There was big reaction over the less number of empanelment of 1978 batch IAS officers to the rank of Secretary in the Government of India. And the reaction was: is it empanelment list or elimination list?

There is no officer from eight states
In the list of empanelment of 1978 batch IAS officers states like Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala,West Bengal,Bihar,Himachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Sikkim will have no representation in the Government of India for the next five years.

Gulati is new Joint Secretary Department of Justice
Anil Kumar Gulati has been appointed Joint Secretary, Department of Justice. He is, 1984 batch IRPS officer.

FSB to meet next month
Foreign Service Board (FSB) is expected to meet in the first week of November.

Empanelment of 1981 batch IPS soon
Empanelment of 1981 batch IPS officers to the rank of ADG in the Government of India is expected to take place in a couple of months.

Two contenders for the post of FC, Railway Board
As the grapevine has it, there are two contenders for the post of Financial Commissioner (FC) in Railway Board. They are: Rajeev Bhargawa & Ms. Vijaya Kant GM - Construction in North Frontier Railway (NFR), Kapurthala.

Ms. Puja Jindal to be Director, Civil Aviation
Ms. Puja Jindal on central deputation is poised to be Director, Civil Aviation. She is an IRS-IT officer of 1995 batch.

Interviews for LIC's CMD on October 29
Interviews for the slot of LIC's Chairman and Managing Director(CMD) are likely to be held on October 29,2011.

Interviews for selecting 2 Insurance co CMDs on October 29
Interviews for selecting CMDs against two vacancies in Insurance sector are likely to be held on October 29,2011. Among others front runners are: M A Kharat, Ms. Asha Nair, N K Singh & Neeraj Kumar.

Rohinton Nariman is honest to the core
Solicitor General of India Rohinton Nariman is an honest to the core person. He likes to pick all his bills. A rare quality indeed.

CVC to fine on 5 officers of Ministry of Civil Aviation
The Central Vigilance commission (CVC) has filed an application of request to impose fine on five officers of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, facing corruption charge.

Post of Member (Technical) in IWAI vacant
Post of Member (Technical), on deputation basis, is lying vacant in Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI), Noida (UP). Those willing to apply for the above post may send their applications to the Department of Personnel, Government of India.

Sreekumar likely to join as MD, HMT-MT in December
M D Sreekumar, Director (Tech & Oper), HLL, who has been selected for the post of Managing Director (MD), HMT Machine Tools Limited (HMT-MT), is likely to assume new assignment in December this year.

Pakistan : Four New Federal Ministries
Pakistan's federal government has decided to create four new ministries with a view to 'ensuring clarity in role, integrated service delivery and efficiency in administering federal administrative function.' The new ministries are National Heritage and Integration, Food Security and Research, Disaster Management and National Regulation and Services. It is not clear how much additional burden will come on the exchequer as a result of the decision at a time when the country is faced with severe financial problems.

D D Verma bereaved
Father of 1978 batch UP cadre IAS officer, Desh Deepak Verma passed away on Thursday evening.

Deepak Krishna assigned addl charge of GM SWR (UPDATED)
Deepak Krishna, GM, Southern Railway, has been assigned additional charge of GM, South Western Railway(SWR).

Asthana, assigned addl charge of SCR (UPDATED)
G N Asthana, GM, West Central Railways, has been assigned additional charge of South Central Railway(SCR).

Arunendra Kumar gets addl charge of GM, RWF (UPDATED)
Arunendra Kumar, Addl Member Railway Board, has been given additional charge of GM, Rail Wheel Factory (RWF) Bangalore.

This is cadre management in Railways (UPDATED)
Officers of Railway Ministry are thoroughly upset over the mismanagement in promotions resulting in huge surpluses specially in Senior Administrative Grade. The officers have been promoted despite non availability of posts during the last several years. In some of the zonal railways 2 to 3 officers have been posted against one SAG post. With the result, officers are being forced to go on leave under their account. This is not only unfair but demotivating. Railway Board has no clue !

P K Agarwal, GM, CCL, selected for Director (Finance), CCI (UPDATED)

P K Agarwal, GM, CCL, has been selected for the post of Director (Finance), Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) at the PESB meeting held on October 28. Seven persons were interviewed in this regard.

Indian companies not able to pay foreign loans?(UPDATED)
There are concerns in the foreign investment and banking circles whether the money raised by the Corporate India for Foreign Currency Convertible Bonds and Industrial Credit will come back. Investors are worried that Indian companies that have borrowed abroad may not be able to pay or roll over their debt when repayments are due.

More cloth production units in Maharashtra (UPDATED)
Maharashtra CM Prithviraj Chavan who claims that he is committed to the welfare of the farmers of the state has said that he will bring in more textile manufacturing plants in the state and that a new policy for the same is in the offing.

Rs 5 trillion investment for Maharashtra? (UPDATED)
Maharashtra is aiming to get Rs 5 trillion worth of industrial investments in the state - a policy for which is in the making. However, there are constraints that will prevent any businessman to come with investment in the state. Land acquisition issues, erratic power supplies, poor roads and host of infrastructure issues need to be addressed if Maharashtra really wants any investments, say experts. No big ticket investment will come to the state also because there has been flip flop on key policy issues like VAT and tax holidays for industries, experts add. Even though the state boasts of having signed MOU's worth Rs 1 trillion in the past six months, the actual investments still needs to be seen.

Pranay Sahay Appointed DG, SSB (UPDATED)
Pranay Sahay, IPS (MT:75), presently Secretary (Security) Cabinet Secretariat, has been appointed as Director General of Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB). The appointment will take effect from the date of assumption of charge of the post vice Y.S. Dadwal, IPS (AGMU:74) who superannuates on October 31, 2011.
(We said this on August 25 and again on September 15 )

Goutam Sanyal to retire on October 31, 2011 (UPDATED)
Goutam Sanyal Secretary to West Bengal Chief Minister Ms. Mamata Banerjee is due to retire on October 31, 2011 . He is a CSS cadre officer of the 1978 batch.

Seven Commissioners/ Directors of Income Tax shifted (UPDATED)
Seven Commissioners/ Directors of Income Tax have been transferred. Accordingly, Avinash Chander Tejpal, on revocation of suspension, has been made CIT (OSD ITAT), Mumbai. Devi Singh, CIT (OSD, ITAT), Mumbai has been moved as CIT (Audit), Mumbai; RSVS Pavan Kumar, CIT (A)-2, Chennai, has been made DIT (Vig. South), Chennai; Rajeev Kumar Agrawal, CIT (Audit), Kanpur will now be CIT-25, Mumbai; S. Sankarlinga M, Secretary, (ITSC), Chennai, has been shifted as CIT (Audit & Co), Cochin; Hemanta Bijoy Mahanta, CIT-2, Guwahati, has been made DIT (I&CI), Delhi and Amit Jain, CIT (A), Patiala, has been made as CIT-14, Delhi.


133 IRS officers appointed as Jt. Commissioner in Income Tax (UPDATED)
As many as 133 IRS officers have been appointed as Joint Commissioner, Income Tax (OSD) on ad hoc basis. They include: Ashutosh Verma, D. K. Sinha, Umesh Chandra Dubey, G. S Gautam, S. Suresh Kumar, S. Swaminathan, M. Siwa Joshi, Chaturbhujdas Chatnani, Baban D. Patil, Hiu G. Khilnani Vinita J. Menon, K.R. Iyengar, Subir Chaterjee, S. Dutta, Amit Maitra, Ramaprasad Nag, Yacub Toppo, Swapan Samanta, Tanuj Neogi, Dilip Rakshit, Sarbari Mukhapadhyay, Anjan Roy, Ashok Dey, Niranjana Satpati, Shyama Lahiri, Rajindera Prasad, Dinabandhu Naskar, Abhijit Kundu, C.S Anjaria, H. Barman, Partha Dam Kanunjan, B.K. Mistry, A.G. Vyas, V.I. Vyas, V.I. Mehta, R.R. Meena, I.P. Nago, Raju Lepcha, R. S. Mehta, K.C. Meena, R.N. Siddappaji, Memories Masser, G.C. Bhoi, Syed Salim, S.K. Mittal, Kalyan Nath, Alok Nag, Alka Singh, Sudipta guha, B. Nageshwar Rao, Dharam Chand, K. Vishwanathan, P.C. Sharma, M. Murugaboopathy, S. Arvind, A. Mary Baby, Richa Gaharwar, Rajkumar Ghosh, Ajay Malik, Guru Prasad B.L., Sanjay Punglia, Amisha Shrivastava, Chetan P.S. Rao, Shubhrata Verma, Surabhi Sharma, Sarvanan Babu, Rajendra Singh, Rajinder Kaur, Jivendeep Singh Kahlon, Amar Jyti Majumdar, Inoshi Sharma, K.P. hara, Ramapriya, Raghavan, R.K. Kakkar, Roopak Kumar, Saroj Kumar Dubey, A Sundaran Rajan, Vivek Kumar Gupta, R. Durapandian, Chabungbam Deepak Singh, Rahul Kumar, R Ilavarasi, Arvinder Singh, Roy Jose V, Ekta Jain, B.K. Gupta, Shailja Rai, Md. Atahar H. Chowdhury, R.K. Sharma, Javed Akhtar, Sat Pal Singh, Sanjeev Kumar Yadav, Sarita Kumari, C. Venkata Pavana Kumar, Sanjeev Ghai, M. Murali, Pankaj Singhania, B Isaivani, Nidhi Verma, Sanjiv Kaushal, Kirtane Amol bhimrao, Subrata Guha, Nimesh Yadav, Vikramaditya, Balasubramaniam Jayaragavan, B Datta, G. Nantha Kumar, Debasis Roy, Atiq Ahmed, Soumesh Das, B. Bala Krishna, Souryajit Das Gupta, Santosh Kumar, Priyabratu Pramanik, S. Palani Kumar, Sital Chandra Das, Binod Kumar, Buddhadeb Mukhopadhya, Sanjoy Mukherjee, Rakhi vimal, Sucheta Chattopadhyay Roy, Raitha Vorvuru, Debasish Lahirit, Yogesh Vishnu Kamat, Satyendera Mohan Das, Rahul Dhawan, Deepak R.L., Arun Kanti Sinha, Vikas Keraba Suryawanshi, M. Rajan, Mahesh Kr. Deoram Akhade, Apurba Kr. Das, Sallong Yaden, Sumer Singh Meena, Manjunath Karkihalli.

(DEBATE)
LOKPAL BILL AND BUREAUCRACY
The debate on Lokpal Bill and the subsequent anger and protests across the country led by veteran Gandhian Anna Hazare has instilled a fear of accountability among the bureaucracy. How should the bureaucrats react to the situation?
Mail your views to suresh.mehrotra@yahoo.com or mehrotra.suresh@gmail.com

CORPORATE

Ravi Kumar leaves L & T!
Former CMD of the BHEL Ravi Kumar has reportedly quit the L & T in order to join a big company in Nagpur.

Is opening the aviation sector now a peril ?
Is India too late in opening the aviation sector, is a question that is being asked now? The mess that is seen in Air India, Kingfisher and Jet Airways are certainly going to make any investor wary. Much of this is to be blamed for the governments skewed aviation fuel pricing policy. Given that solutions to the oil mess are not likely to come anytime soon will any investor rush into India's aviation sector?

Will Gujarat's auto development kill Maharashtra's auto industry?
Is there going to be an exodus of semi skilled and skilled workers especially in automotive sector to other states is a worrying question in the state's policymakers mind. Considering that neighbouring state of Gujarat is poised to become the Detroit of the country the once Chinchwad -Pune automotive belt could see a labor attrition to the new state. Maharashtra had invested in ITI's to train labor especially in the automotive sector.

Gopinath to Head AT&T's Global Services Business in India
V S Gopi Gopinath who is currently Vice President, AT&T Asia Pacific will soon take over as Head of AT&T's global services business in India.

Puilan appointed Director, Excel Crop Care Ltd
David Puilan has been appointed as a Director on the Board of Directors of Excel Crop Care Ltd on October 20, 2011.

Poddar ceases to be Director, GTL Ltd
Dipak Kumar Poddar has resigned as a Director of GTL Ltd on personal grounds effective form October 20, 2011.

Nagarajan ceases to be Director, GTL Ltd
Balasubramanian Nagarajan has ceased to be Director on Board of GTL Ltd due to his attaining the age of 65 years.

Khan appointed Company Secy. Sharon Bio-Medicine Ltd
C S Samsad Alam Khan, has been appointed as a Company Secretary of Sharon Bio-Medicine Ltd w.e.f. October 24, 2011

Gowri resigns as Company Secy. TVS Electronics Ltd
Ms. A R Gowri has resigned as Company Secretary of TVS Electronics Ltd w.e.f. October 22, 2011.

Pawar appointed Addl. Director, Kalyani Steels Ltd
Arun P. Pawar has been appointed as an Additional Director on the Board of Kalyani Steels Ltd.

Singh appointed Director, Pearl Polymers Ltd
Mahavir Singh, AGM (Finance), Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation has been appointed as Director of Pearl Polymers Ltd .

Gupta retires as MD, Aditya Birla Chemicals (India) Ltd
The Board of Aditya Birla Chemicals (India) Limited has approved the retirement of existing Managing Director, S S Gupta w.e.f. October 23, 2011

Agrawal appointed MD, Aditya Birla Chemicals (India) Ltd
Vijaykumar Ramratan Agrawal has been appointed as Managing Director of Aditya Birla Chemicals (India) Ltd w.e.f. October 24, 2011.

Albusaidy appointed Group Exec. Director, Jet Airways India Ltd
Jet Airways India Ltd has appointed Abdulrahman Albusaidy as Group Executive Director .

Anna showing Mungreli Lal Ke Sapne !

Anna and his team is showing this Country Mungreli Lal Ke Haseen Sapne. I don't think any one would be fearful. Rule or law does not change the situation unless our mindset is changed. Corruption has become way of life for the centuries and it can be removed only with change in the system and use of advance technology. I don't think that anything is going to happen with introduction of Jan Lok Pal. In fact strict rules and law are already there, which are misused more than use. Same thing is going to happen with Jan Lok Pal. Only poor people will suffer and so called self-certified honest would get media attention.

Harish Chandra

Anna should be specific

This is not the way to reply. Annaji what is the difference between You and Government then. They also say that this conspiracy of RSS/BJP or Foreign hand. Why not reply to the points raised? This is just ridiculous response. Why you expect that "as you are supporting/demanding Jan Lokpal" you have right to jump every Red light (as if Policeman fines you he is anti-Lokpal). This is just worst form of ridiculous response, never expected from at least Anna ji (I did not have high expectations from Kiran Bedi, Kejriwal etc. but Anna Ji is simple person). If you have guts and transparency then reply point by point to the questions pointed to you and your team (Do not hide behind Jan-Lokpal curtain as that is a shield for all your wrongdoings). We want Jan-Lokpal but we also want that whoever does something wrong must be punished. Both Things Can Go Together. There is no doubt about it. Parliamentary Standing Committee is taking care of Jan-Lokpal Bill and Abhishek Singhavi has told that he will call you (Team Anna) in first week of November. So store your energy about Jan-Lopal till then. But reply to the wrongdoings of Bedi and Kejariwal in proper way. (It would be appropriate if IBN 7 just read the Service Rules/Leave Rules/Conduct Rules for Civil Servants and publish here so that the bluff of Kejariwal can be explained to Public ). There cannot be two set of Central Civil Services Rules- One of Jan-Lokpal Supporters/campaigners and other for ordinary hard working Government employee.. And Kejariwal knows it better that is why he is not responding to the questions rather fielding other journalists like Shajia and Manish who does not know about Civil service Rules and keep on repeating Jan-Lokpal Jan-lokpal and everything else is because of it. You can't fool people by your this bluff. Do not worry. Public will take care of Jan-Lokpal now as public is aware now and it can take care of both Congress/BJP as well as Corrupt Team Anna also.

SK

Kiran Bedi has done no wrong!

In many Government departments full fare business class tickets are being purchased in which companion free scheme is available. The companion is invariably the spouse, when there is a clear cut circular that on companion ticket another officer shall travel. If this is not corruption, then how can Kiran Bedi's act be called unjust and unfair.

Rajiv

Kiran Bedi hasn't done anything wrong!

Dr Kiran Bedi have done nothing wrong.I donot understand why the congress in particular, is exposing themselves-which is so cheap and exposing their real colours to the people of this country. They have not lost vision,but have no vision at all? I am sure people of this country through them out , that they will not able to come back at least in our lifetime. Rk

R K

It was painful

It was painful to portray Ms Kiran Bedi who is leading a popular movement in the country as corrupt for the inflated TA claim. She could have claimed the difference in airfares from the organisers of the events as a donation to her Trusts. They would have readily accepted this condition. Inflated TA bill is wrong and she should know this being former police officer.

Nkpushpakaran

It is not smuggling

This is apropos to comment of whispers on Cotton growing in Maharashtra. Bringing agriculture produce to the markets which offer better pricing is not a smuggling activity and the farmers, who do usually practice, are not smugglers. It might be the cotton traders who bring to the Adilabad market the raw cotton purchased from farmers in Maharashtra by evading cess payable to the Marketing Department of Maharashtra. please refer definition of 'smuggling' under Customs Act. I prey whispers not to loosely worded its valued articles. The disgraced comment is repeated below for your perusal:- Most farmers especially in Yavatmal which is the biggest cotton growing region smuggle raw cotton to Adilabad in Andhra Pradesh which is also the biggest center in Asia for cotton trade

MVK Reddy

CAT decisions are not always infallible

With due respect to the CAT, it cannot be said that CAT decisions are always infallible. It is challenged at High Court level and Supreme Court level. In a recent judgment of Garima Singh Vs. Union of India it has ordered relaxation in eligibility period for 'promotion policy terms' to the UOI. This seems to be against the spirit of the Article 309 of the Constitution of India. Solicitor general in his advise in this case has recommended a case of direct challenge of CAT's in Supreme Court. In any case the CAT's decision is duly respected. In case of a 2002 case relating to in-situ up gradation given to remove stagnation(non-vacancy based promotion i.e. only upgradation of scale)i.e. from Section Officer to in-situ Under Secretary, CAT had upheld the decision of the Government to grant reservation. Subsequently, reservation was granted both at the time of ad-hoc promotion and also at the stage of regular promotion. Does this not amount to grant benefit to reserved category employees on three occasions at the same pedestal?

Krishna

There would be another layer of litigation at the Lokpal

Only if Anna realizes the great fraud played on the public by his team and the dreams that have been sold in Anna's name. Re arranging parts of Conduct Rules, CCS CCA Rules, IPC, Cr PC, CPC, etc would not even whittle down corruption let alone eliminate it. And to add, there would be another layer of litigation at the Lokpal (the Lokpal Bill provides for free legal assistance ) stage and another round of spoils being exploited. Superficial treatment to a century old malady can not be ham handed. Let the Movement take a political color and let the people manning the movement try change the system from within. This is the only way. A rag tag team of officers having resigned, or superceded, or journos with no experience in government, or lecturers who would not attend college , do not typically have the answer to the country;s problems. Anna must ralize this. Lest the movement turns in to a soap opera or a fiasco

Brinjal

Application seeking indiscriminate information

The appellant had sought 08 paras of information regarding generation of power in various States and related information. The CIC quoted the Supreme Court judgment in Civil Appeal No. 6454 of 2011 (CBSE & Anrs Vs Aditya Bandopadhaya & Ors) while disposing the appeal. The Commission observed that the Right to Information is a cherished right but it has to be exercised with restraint. The requested information should be useful to the information seeker either personally or it should be useful socially or nationally. Wanton demand for information without any meaningful purpose behind it can not be countenanced as it puts undue strain on the limited resources of the public authority. Besides, collection, collation and transmission of information entails costs to the public authority.

Comments

In regard to information other than those enumerated in subsection (b) and (c) of section 4(1) of the RTI Act, equal importance and emphasis should be given to other public interests like confidentiality of sensitive information, fiduciary relationships, efficient operation of governments, etc.. The RTI Act should not be allowed to be misused in a manner where indiscriminate demands are made in the name of seeking information.

Ashok Kumar v. Ministry of Power in CIC/LS/A/2011/002230

- 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)