What people say about us!

A Herculean & fantastic work pioneered by you & your team which goes a long way in shaping things to come in future in India. I am not only enthused but also indebted to you personally because I am 1976 - 1981 batch civil Engineer from MACT Bhopal. I convey my heartfelt
appreciation/affiliation to you.

Ravi

BUREAUCRACY

Who will be new Chairman of TRAI?
Who will succeed J S Sarma as Chairman of the TRAI? Names of Secretary, Commerce, Rahul Khullar and Secretary, Defence Production, Shekhar Agrawal are currently doing the round. Name of present Bombay Municipal Corporation Commissioner, Subodh Kumar is also in circulation.

Who will be new Secretary, Law?
Who will be new Secretary, Law in the Government of India? Name of B Agrawal is in circulation for the post. Meanwhile, there is a move to make the post of Secretary, Law - a tenure post.

Vijayanand to be AS, Rural Development
S M Vijayanand is being tipped to be new Additional Secretary, Rural Development in the Government of India. He is a 1981 batch IAS officer of Kerala cadre.

IPS officer resigns?
Arvind Verma, IPS officer of 1978 batch from Jharkhand cadre, has reportedly resigned from his services after putting in 24 years of service.

21 IPS officers of 1981 batch empanelled as ADGP
As many as 21 Indian Police Service (IPS) officers of 1981 batch belonging to various cadres have officially been empanelled as Additional Director General of Police/ equivalent level posts. They include: Rajiv Mehta of Assam-Meghalaya cadre; Rupak Kumar Dutta of Karnataka cadre; Khinya Ram, C Bala Subramanian of Manipur-Tripura cadre; Sriniwas Vashisht of Haryana cadre; Meeran C Borwankar, S C Mathur and Ashok Kumar Sharma of Maharashtra cadre; K Durga Prasad, Vivek Dubey of Andhra Pradesh cadre; Satish Chandra Jha of Bihar; Malay Kumar Sinha, Kamalendra Prasad of Uttar Pradesh cadre; P N Aggarwal of AGMUT; A K Dhasmana, Dr. Anand Kumar of Madhya Pradesh cadre; Dr. Mahboob Alam of Tamil Nadu cadre; V Thiagrajan of Orissa cadre and Vijoy Kumar and Kishanlal Meena of West Bengal cadre.

Will Singh be new Ambassador in Tokyo?
Deputy Chief of Mission in Washington Arun Singh is likely to be appointed Indian Ambassador to Tokyo. He is 1979 batch IFS officer.

Rina Mitra moves as Director, BPR&D
Ms Rina Mitra has moved from Wildlife Crime Control Bureau to BPR&D as Director (IG rank). She is a 1983 batch IPS officer of Madhya Pradesh cadre.
(We said this on January 17)

Mukherjee is Director in DG, Audit (Central), Kolkata
B K Mukherjee, Senior Deputy Accountant General (Coml.) in the office of Principal Accountant General (Audit), West Bengal, Kolkata, has been transferred and posted as Director in the office of Director General of Audit (Central), Kolkata, branch office Port Blair under the Comptroller & Auditor General of India.

1709 officers of Armed Forces quit jobs
As many as 1709 officers of Armed Forces have taken either premature retirement or resigned from their jobs during last three years: 2009, 2010 and 2011.

Review policy for empanelment yet to be formed?
Policy of review for empanelment of bureaucrats in the Government of India is yet to be framed.

Railways to recruit one lakh persons
The Railways has proposed to recruit over one lakh persons in fiscal year 2012-13.

New post of JS in I&B Ministry
A new post of Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting is being created.

21 posts of Judges vacant in Calcutta HC
As many as 21 posts of Judges have been lying vacant in Calcutta High Court against 58 approved strength including 8 posts of Permanent Judges against 45 approved strength.

Harish Chandra transferred from Lucknow
Harish Chandra, Deputy Director General, ZO, Fod, Lucknow, has been transferred to Ministry of Finance, Department of Income Tax, New Delhi as Deputy Director General. He is an Indian Statistical Officer of 1979 batch.

IG ITBP selected for training in UK
IG Indian Tibet Border Police (ITBP) K B Singh has been selected for the one month Mid career training in UK. He is 1985 batch IPS officer of Orissa cadre.

V Krishnamurthy poised to be a Deputy Secretary in MEA
As the grapevine has it, V Krishnamurthy who is on central deputation is poised to join Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) as a Deputy Secretary. He is an Indian Telecom Service (ITS) officer of 1999 batch.

Eight ITBP officials to get DIG rank
Eight officers of the rank of Senior Commandant in Indo-Tibet Border Police (ITBP) are likely to be promoted soon as DIG in ITBP.

Post of CCF, NTCA in Nagpur vacant
The Nagpur located post of CCF in National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has been lying vacant.

Dabas to get pro-forma promotion
J C Dabas, Special DG in CRPF Directorate, is being given pro-forma promotion to the rank of DG. He is Manipur Tripura Cadre IPS officer of 1977 batch.

IAS changes in Sikkim
A K Srivastava has been appointed Principal Secretary, Social Justice. B K Kharel has been made Secretary, Industries.

19 IRS officers get proforma promotion
As many as 19 Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officers at the level of Additional Commissioner of Income Tax and on deputation have been granted proforma promotion. The officers include Vismita Tej, Kamlesh Chandra Varshney, Sayed Nasir Ali, Mona Singh, Monika A Bhatia, Amal Pushp, Ajay Goyal, Amitav, Kavita Pandey, Amit Mohan Govil, Anita Sinha, Anand Jha, Asit Singh, Sanjay, Pawan Kumar, Alok Kumar, Adhir Jha, Joe Sebastian and Sanjay Prasad.

PESB seeks applications for Director (Expl.), ONGC
Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) has invited applications for the post of Director (Exploration), Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC). Those willing to apply may send their applications to the PESB before May 31, 2012.

PESB seeks applications for Director (Corp. Plng & Pers.), MDL
Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) has invited applications for the post of Director (Corporate Planning & Personnel), Mazagon Dock Limited (MDL). Those willing to apply can send their applications to the PESB before May 18, 2012.

Basudeb Banerjee to look after 6 departments in West Bengal
The new Home Secretary in West Bengal is now incharge of six departments, commerce and industries, IT, home, Hills affairs, jails and parliamentary affairs. He is 1983 batch IAS officer.

1987 batch IPS to be ADG in Tripura
Two 1987 batch IPS officers V S Yadav and Bishnu Deb Barma are being promoted to the rank of ADG in Tripura. 1985 batch IPS officer Kuldeep Kumar will also get promotion.

K Dhanavel is MD, TIDCO in Tamil Nadu (UPDATED)
K Dhanavel who so far was Member Secretary in the State Planning Board of Tamil Nadu assumed charge as Managing Director(MD) of the Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu Industrial Development(TIDCO). Dhanavel is an IAS officer of the 1996 batch who belongs to the Tamil Nadu cadre.

Kalyanmayee holds in-House Fashion show and Art Installation of 3-D Miniatures (UPDATED)
Airports Authority of India's (AAI's) extended arm "Kalyanmayee - A Women Welfare Association" celebrated its 25th year by conducting the first ever Fashion Show and a Flower Show at a function attended by Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Rajiv Shukla in the capacity of Chief Guest and Ms. Anuradha Prasad as the Guest of Honour. The Chairman of AAI, VP Agrawal presided over the function which was conducted by the President of Kalyanmayee - Mrs. Archna Agrawal.

BHEL Bhopal achieves highest ever turnover in fiscal 2011-12 (UPDATED)
The mother unit of Bharat Heavy Electrical Limited (BHEL - Bhopal) has earned a net profit of Rs 801 crore against the turn over of Rs 4780 crore during fiscal 2011-12. The Executive Director of the BHEL's Bhopal unit, SS Gupta told newspersons on Wednesday that the unit had achieved the highest ever turn over with 19.5 percent growth compared to last year's turnover of Rs. 4208 core. Gupta also informed that there has been a growth of 19 percent in Export Turnover from the previous year's Rs. 1376 crore to Rs.1637 crore while the value added has increased by 10.4 percent from Rs.1858 crore in 2010-11 to Rs.2051 crore in 2011-12. Similarly customer collection, Gupta said, has increased by 25.8 percent from Rs. 3612 crore in 2010-11 to Rs. 4545 crore in 2011-12 and cash surplus (operations) has increased by 209 percent from Rs. 209 crore in 2010-11 to Rs. 645 crore in 2011-12.

Major overhaul in IOC(UPDATED)
A major overhaul in Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL) is on the anvil.This will include promotions & transfers.

Gopesh Agrawal appointed in NPA Hyderabad (UPDATED)
Gopesh Aggarwal Addl.Excise Commissioner Kerala has been appointed as Assistant Director(AD),National Police Academy, Hyderabad. He is an IPS officer of 2000 batch who belongs to Kerala cadre.

Agarwal selected as Director (Proj.), PFC (UPDATED)
A K Agarwal, ED, PFC, has been selected for the post of Director (Projects), Power Finance Corporation Limited (PFC) at a Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) meeting. As many as 10 persons were interviewed for the same.

PESB recommends Mishra's name for CMD, HECL (UPDATED)
Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) has recommended the name of R Mishra, Director (Finance), HECL for the post of Chairman & Managing Director, Heavy Engineering Corporation Limited (HECL).

Sunil Soni appointed Additional Secretary, Banking (UPDATED)
Sunil Soni has been appointed new Additional Secretary Financial Services in the Government of India. He is 1981 batch IAS officer of Maharashtra cadre.
( We said this on April 2 )

Orders of P K Chaudhary as CS, Haryana issued (UPDATED)
Orders of P K Chaudhary for the appointment of Chief Secretary, Haryana Government have been issued. Chaudhary is a 1977 batch IAS officer of this cadre.
(We said this on March 21)

B K Singh shifted to Northern Railway (UPDATED)
Basant Kumar Singh, SG/IRAS, has been shifted from East Central Railway (ECR) to Northern Railway (NR) and posted in the cadre.

DEBATE - Should bureaucrats alone be held accountable for policy decisions ?

Bureaucrats now feel that Ministers and Politicians also be held responsible for 'policy decisions' taken by the government. They also want that entire cabinet should be held accountable for policy decisions. How far they are correct in their thinking ?

Mail your to the point views to suresh.mehrotra@yahoo.com or mehrotra.suresh@gmail.com

CORPORATE

Cyrus Mistry on the board of Tata Consultancy Services
Cyrus Mistry, deputy chairman of Tata Sons has been put on the board of directors of Tata Consultancy Services, (TCS).

Mukherjee re-appointed MD, Sesa Goa Ltd
P K Mukherjee has been re-appointed as Managing Director of Sesa Goa Ltd w.e.f. April 1, 2012 for a period of three years.

Sharma re-appointed CMD & CEO, Resurgere Mines & Minerals India Ltd
Resurgere Mines & Minerals India Limited has re-appointed Subhash Sharma, as Chairman, Managing Director and CEO of the company for a period of five years w.e.f. April 1, 2012.

Three directors cease to be on Board of Mindtree Ltd
George Martin Scalise, Vittal Nagrajan and Mark Alastair Runacres have resigned as directors of Mindtree Ltd w.e.f. March 31, 2012.

Deshmukh resigns as President and CEO (R&D), Mindtree Ltd
Vinod Deshmukh, President and CEO, R&D Services, Mindtree Ltd has resigned from the company w.e.f. March 31, 2012.

Sanghi resigns as Non Exec. Independent Director, Liberty Shoes Ltd
Siddharth Sanghi has resigned as Non Executive Independent Director of Liberty Shoes Ltd.

Palhan appointed Addl. Director, Liberty Shoes Ltd
Ramesh Chandra Palhan has been appointed as Additional Director of Liberty Shoes Ltd w.e.f. March 28, 2012.

Two directors cease to be on Board of Agro Dutch Industries Ltd.
Dilsher Singh and Ajay Arora, the directors of Agro Dutch Industries Ltd have resigned from the company with immediate effect.

Pai appointed Addl. Director, Orient Chemicals & Industries Ltd
K M Pai has been appointed as Additional Director on the Board of Directors of Orient Chemicals And Industries Ltd w.e.f. April 2, 2012.

Shah resigns as Company Secy. Bodal Chemicals Ltd
Chirag G. Shah has resigned as Company Secretary of Bodal Chemicals Ltd w.e.f. March 30, 2012

Shanbag appointed Director, Lyka Labs Ltd
Lyka Labs Limited has appointed V Shanbag as Director of the company.

Two alternate directors appointed on Board of Birla Ericsson Optical Ltd
Birla Ericsson Optical Limited has appointed Dinesh Chanda and S K Daga as alternate directors to act for Magnus Kreuger and Mats O Hansson respectively during their absence w.e.f. March 28, 2012.

Saraf appointed Part-time Director, STCI
The State Trading Corporation Of India Limited has appointed Subhash Chandra Saraf as Part-time Non-official Director on the Board of the company.

Steel Minister Presents SAIL's Interim Dividend Cheque to PM
The Union Minister for Steel, Beni Prasad Verma on Tuesday presented an interim dividend cheque from SAIL to the Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh in the presence of Secretary, Steel, GoI, D.R.S. Chaudhary and Chairman, Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) C.S. Verma. SAIL paid an interim dividend (2011-12) to Government of India amounting to Rs.425.36 crore. The total interim dividend paid by SAIL comes to Rs.495.65 crore, i.e. @ 12% of paid up equity capital, for the year 2011-12. In addition to interim dividend, the Board of Directors of the company would also recommend Final Dividend for the year, while approving the financial results for the year 2011-12. It is pertinent to note that since its inception, SAIL has made total dividend pay-outs of Rs.9, 392 crore equivalent to 228% of its paid up capital. Out of this, payment to Government of India is Rs.8, 092 crore, besides dividend tax of Rs.1, 342 crore.

BHEL earns net profit of Rs 6, 868 crore in 2011-12 fiscal year
Adding yet another feather in its cap, Bharat Heavy Electrical Limited (BHEL)-including all units-has earned a net profit of Rs 6, 868 crore against the turnover of Rs 49, 309 crore set in this fiscal year 2011-12. Addressing press conference in New Delhi on April 3, 2012 BHEL Chairman and Managing Director, B Prasada Rao informed that all units of BHEL had achieved the highest ever turn over with 19.4 percent growth compared to last year target of Rs. 41, 299 core. Rao said that profit before tax was of Rs 10, 001 crore this year while net worth of Rs 24, 947 crore. Besides, earning per share was at the rate of 28.06 crore and R&D Investment of Rs 1,162 crore, Rao said. In detail, Rao said that net profit rose 21.2% against Rs 5,665 crore in the previous year. During the year highest ever interim equity dividend of 136 % was paid for 2011-12 maintaining the track record of paying dividends uninterrupted since 1976-77. Net Asset Value per share stood at Rs 101.9 reflecting the intrinsic strength of the company, the BHEL CMD said adding that the BHEL has received orders from 21 countries. The BHEL has commissioned successfully power & transmission projects in Oman, Taiwan, Nepal and Afghanistan. Presently, the BHEL is executing 24 contracts in 19 countries across the world. Rao said that the BHEL sets contributed 69% of the power generated in the country in this fiscal year. It has ensured consistent operating availability of 500 MW thermal sets at more than 90% for last five years. The BHEL has crafted a new strategic plan for the period of 2012-17 to steer the company with a vision of becoming a global engineering enterprise. Besides, it has also focused on transportation, Transmission, Defense, Renewables, Nuclear and water segments, Rao added.

Ministers in charge should also be accountable

Yes, they should also be accountable as the system cannot take a decision alone. It is the desires of sitting Ministers in charge to implement and execute any plan programme. Hence, the success or failures should also be shared by them.

Navnit Sharma

J&K DGP must be from State Cadre

J&K DGP must be chosen from the J&K State Cadre irrespective of the seniorities of other States/UTs DGsP. It will be a great injustice for those J&K Cadre senior Police Officers who have got seriously injured while leading the Police Force personally and fought the militancy with determination and courage of the highest order. Mr. K. Rajendera Kumar, Addl. DGP is one among such officers. He must be given this responsibility (DGP). He is a very bold, strict, highly integrated disciplinarian Officer. Year of induction should not come in the path as a road blocker.

Gunpreet Singh

Disclosure of "Default Cases" of the Banks The appellant wanted details of default cases which were compromised by the State Bank of India (SBI) during the last three years. The PIO claimed the matter pertained to commercial confidence and disclosure of trade secrets may harm the competitive position of the entity. He also stated that the information sought was vast and disproportionately can divert the resources of the public authority as per section 7 (9) of the RTI Act. The First Appellate Authority (FAA) also upheld the PIO decision. The appellant argued that he was not seeking the names of the defaulting parties and therefore the argument by the respondents of compromising information pertaining to third parties should not arise. The CIC observed that disclosing the year wise aggregate settled amount by the banks with the defaulting parties will help in transparent functioning of the public authority which is the very objective of the RTI Act. Accordingly, the Commission directed the respondent to furnish information limited to the total number of entities who have defaulted and the total settled amount for the past three years. Comments The rising Non-Performing Assets (NPA) in the banks has been a matter of concern for the citizens which has been wrapped in an opaque process. Hopefully, the implementation of this order would help in restoring transparency in banking industry.

Citation: Shri Kulbhushan Jain v. SBI in Appeal: No. CIC/DS/A/2011/000841

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