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It is an excellent and informative site covering day to day information about bureaucracy, politics and general matters which helps every literate person to know the developments on day to day basis.

Prafulla Kumar Pandra

Cabinet reshuffle with an eye on Assembly & Lok Sabha polls
As the grapevine has it, next cabinet reshuffle at the Centre will be done the with an eye on Assembly polls and Lok Sabha polls. Assembly polls in Gujarat, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh will be kept in mind say political pundits. Likewise, to keep regional parties like Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Samajwadi Party (SP) in good humour, certain berths may be given to them. It will be crucial for Congress to capture as many seats as possible in Uttar Pradesh & Bihar during next Lok Sabha polls.

Limited reshuffle comes as a breather to many
Limited reshuffle in the Union cabinet have come as a breather to many ministers at the Centre.

TMC facing wrath over mishandling Railway Ministry
The Trina Mool Congress (TMC) being headed by West Bengal Chief Minister Ms. Mamata Banerjee has been decried by many for mishandling of the Railway Ministry. Under the TMC's regime number of death tolls in railway accidents has alarmingly risen.

BUREAUCRACY

Notification of Zaidi this week ?

Notification of the appointment of outgoing Secretary Civil Aviation Dr Syed Nasim Ahmad Zaidi as Election Commissioner is expected anytime this week. He is a former 1976 batch IAS officer of UP cadre.

Kaushik Basu returns to Cornell University
Outgoing Chief Economic Advisor, Kaushik Basu, who finished his three-year stint in the Indian finance ministry is back to academics at Cornell University.
(We said this on July 14)

Chief Secretaries of three states to be finalised
The Government has to finalise new Chief Secretaries in states of Goa, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh.

Navajyoti Gogoi is new SP, CBI
Navajyoti Gogoi has been appointed new SP in the CBI. He is a 2000 batch IPS officer of Rajasthan cadre.

( We said this July 9 )

Goyal to be DG,IGNFA, Dehradun
As the grapevine has it, R K Goyal is going to be new Director General (DG) of the Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy (IGNFA), Dehradun . He is a 1977 batch Indian Forest Service(IFS) officer of UT cadre.

Anil Sant appointed Joint Secretary Forests and Environment

Anil Sant has been appointed Joint Secretary Forests and Environment in the Government of India. He is 1988 batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre.
( We said this on July 24 )

Rajeev Swarup gets addl. charge of Public Relations in Rajasthan
Rajeev Swarup, Principal Secretary, Higher and Technical Education, has been assigned additional charge of Information and Public Relations Department in Rajasthan. He is a 1985 batch IAS officer of this state cadre.

Arvind Mayaram assumes charge as Secretary, DEA
Arvind Mayaram has taken over as Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance. He is a 1978 batch IAS officer of Rajasthan cadre.
(We said this on July 20, 2012)


K N Srivastava takes over as Secretary, Civil Aviation
K N Srivastava has assumed the charge as Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation. Srivastava was earlier working as Special Secretary and Financial Adviser in the Ministry of External Affairs. He is a 1978 batch IAS officer of Karnataka cadre.
(We said this on June 27, 2012)

Inter-cadre deputation period of IAS officer extended
Inter-cadre deputation tenure of Minhaj Alam has been extended for two years. He is a 1996 batch IAS officer of Kerala cadre .

Vijay Kumar Singh promoted in CBI
Vijay Kumar Singh has been promoted to the rank of DIG in CBI. He is 1997 batch IPS officer of Rajasthan cadre.

Mathur ,DG,BEE to demit office on Aug 9
Dr Ajay Mathur, Director General (DG) of Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) will demit office on August 9. His term gets over on August 11, 2012 but it will be a holiday on August 10 and 11, 2012.

Singh to demit office as JS, Power on August 14
Devender Singh, who on central deputation is Joint Secretary, Power in charge of Distribution will demit office on August 14,2014. He is a 1987 batch IAS officer of the Haryana cadre.

Alok Saxena posted DDG (Establishment ) Posts
Alok Saxena (IPoS-1989) has been posted as DDG (Establishment) in the Department of Posts. He was so far DDG (Technology) in the Department.

Post of CGDA lying vacant
The post of Controller General of Defence Accounts (CGDA) has been vacant for a month.

Jha to go on deputation to GoI
S K Jha, IGP, SCRB, PHQ, Bhopal, is likely to go on central deputation as IG. He is a 1989 batch IPS officer of MP cadre.

Akhil Kumar to be DIG,NIA ?
Akhil Kumar, DIG on study leave, is likely to be inducted as DIG, National Investigative Agency (NIA). He is a 1994 batch IPS officer of UP cadre.

Singhal to get extension ?
S K Singhal, IG, SSB, is likely to get an extension in deputation tenure. He is a 1988 batch IPS officer of Bihar cadre.

Will Johri get posting in Geneva ?
Name of 1982 batch IRS (C&CE ) Vivek Johri has started doing the round for the post of Minister (Customs) Permanent Mission of India, Geneva .

Das joins GASAB in CAG office

Paresh Chandra Das, ICAS (1988) joins the Government Accounting Standards Advisory Board(GASAB)in the Office CAG.

Services of IPS officer confirmed
Competent Authority, Government of India has confirmed the services of Rakesh Bansal in IPS. He is 2007 batch IPS officer of 2007 of Jharkhand cadre.

Chitra Suresh to move to Abidjan
First Secretary in Indian Embassy, Rabat, Ms Chitra Suresh has been transferred to Abidjan.

R Naresh posted AG (Audit), Kohima
R Naresh, Director in the office of Principal Director of Audit, London, has been transferred and posted as Accountant General (Audit), Nagaland, Kohima under the Comptroller & Auditor General of India.

Brig. CE Fernandes, CDR PC Wing selected for 38th APPPA
Brig. CE Fernandes, CDR PC Wing, Junior Leader Wing, Belgaum (Karnataka),has been selected for 38th APPPA

K Manohar empanelled as Joint Secretary in GoI
K Manohar has reportedly been empanelled as Joint Secretary in the Government of India. He is an ITS officer of 1981 batch.

Aditya Kumar Joshi deputed Director, DoPT

Aditya Kumar Joshi has been deputed as Director in Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT). He is a 1989 batch Indian Forest Service officer of Manipur-Tripura cadre.

7 DMs shifted in UP
As many as seven District Magistrates (DMs) have been transferred and posted at different districts in Uttar Pradesh. Accordingly, Abhishek Prakash has been shifted as DM, Barielly while Manish Chauhan will now be DM, Lakhimpur Kheri and Sheetal Verma is DM, Unnao. Similarly, Navin Kumar G S has been posted as DM, Banda; Arvind Kumar Dwivedi as DM, Balrampur; Ms Nidhi Keserwani as DM, Shravasti and Sanyukta Sammadar has been shifted as DM, Kasganj.

IAS changes in Maharashtra

T C Benjamin has been appointed as ACS,Public Health Department while Manu Kumar Srivastava will now be PS, Urban Development and Shrikant Singh is Secretary, UD. Similarly, A L Jarad has been appointed as Project Director, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan in place of Sanjay Deshmukh, who has taken over as collector, Mumbai suburban district; P Velarasu is new Thane collector.

Dr. Poonam Kishore Saxena gets addl. charge of Chairperson, CBDT

Indian Revenue Service (IRS-IT) officer, Dr. Poonam Kishore Saxena has been given additional charge of Chairperson, CBDT. She is a senior most Member of the CBDT.

Praveen Mahajan appointed Chairperson, CBEC
Indian Revenue Service (IRS-Customs) officer, Praveen Mahajan has been appointed as Chairperson of Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC). She succeeded S K Goel.
(We said this on July 26, 2012)

Transfers and postings in Railways

As many as four officers have been transferred and posted in Railways. Accordingly, Vijay V Kitke, SAG, IRSE, South Central Railway, on being relived as ADRM, Secunderabad, has been posted in the cadre in the same zone while P Kalimuthu is posted to Southern Railway itself in the cadre and Ram Janm, SG, IRSE, North Eastern Railway is being appointed to officiate in SA grade on North Eastern Railway. Besides, G B Reddy, SG, IRSE, Southern Railway, has been appointed to officiate in SA grade on Southern Railway itself.

IPS officer gets selection grade in Rajasthan (UPDATED)
Janardan Sharma, Commandant 5th Battalion, RAC, Jaipur, has been promoted to Selection Grade. He is a 1995 batch IPS officer of Rajasthan cadre.

Three IPS officers shifted in J&K (UPDATED)
As many as three IPS officers working at Superintendent of Police level have been shifted in Jammu and Kashmir. Accordingly, Ashok Sharma has been transferred and posted as SP Anti-Hijacking (Airport), Jammu while Mehra will now be Staff Officer to IGP Crime and Mansoor Untoo is posted as Staff Officer to Additional DGP Law and Order and Armed Police.


IPS reshuffle in Haryana (UPDATED)
As many as six IPS officers have been transferred and posted at different places in Haryana. Accordingly, Yoginder Singh Nehra has been made Commandant, 4th India Reserve Battalion, Manesar while B Satheesh Balan will now be SP, Hisar and Pankaj Nain is SP, Bhiwani. Similarly, Hamid Akhtar has been appointed as Commandant, 3rd Battalion, Haryana Armed Police, Hisar; Anil Dhawan as SP, Jhajjar and Pat Ram Singh has been made SP, Mewat.

Bhaskar Jyoti Sarma is MD & CEO, SBI GI (UPDATED)
Bhaskar Jyoti Sarma has been appointed as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of SBI General Insurance. Sarma, who has been given a three-year term, has 32 years' experience in banking sector.

158 CSS officers get Selection Grade (UPDATED)
As many as 158 officers of Central Secretariat Service (CSS) have been accorded Selection Grade (Deputy Secretary). They include: L Haokip, Lalit Chauhan, SPG Verghese,LN Thakkar,Syed Ekram Rizwi,Farida M Naik, Varsha Singh,Arvind Kumar,Rakesh Gambhir,Sherhsa,VK Sinha,Shyam Sundar, Prakash Kumar Tamarkar,Mercy Epao,AK Deori,Veena Bhalla,Peemba Tshering Bhutia,Bhaskar Das Gupta,PS Chakratborty,Garima Singh,Om Nand,SM Sundaram,Sandeep Kumar Singh,Sarat Kumar Mishra,Shailaja Narendra Joshi,Soumya Chattopadhayay,Jitendra Singh Gupta,Amarjit singh,CVLN Prasad, Nirmal Kumar Bhagat ,G Parathasarathi, Harjit Singh ,Rahul Kashyap,Pradeep Gaur,Kv krishna kumar,Jyotrimoy Majuamdar,S Rukmani, Ved Prakash Arora,Vinod Kumar Dhand,Vijay Kumar Gupta ,Sujasha choudhry,Anita Tipra, Elangbam Robert Singh,SS Gupta,Reena Sethi,R.Pandiyan,S K Arya, G S Audhkasi,S K MOhanty,Gulam Musafa,Indrani Gupta,Lajpat Rai Gupta,Amarjeet Singh,Kshitij Mohan,Prakash Chandra Singh,A Ka Saran,Anurag Bhalla,H C Bhanot,Anita Puri ,Arun Gaur, S P Bhattacharya, JS Chaddha,Ravish Gupta,Alok Mukhopahyay,Bharti Shridhar,Shyam Prasad Roy,Molly Tiwari,Arun Malik,C M Sharma,VS Chauhan,D.Praveen,Daya Krishna Paliwal,TC Sharma, S K Deb,Lal Chadhhandama,Maitreyee Roy,Rajendra Chaturvedi,SM Khandwal, HKam Suanthang,B K Malhotra,Sushil Kumar, Krishna Dutt,Surinder Kaur, PG Kaladharan,Meena Sharma,Ashok Shukla ,Rita Dogra,C Gangadharan,Amarjit Singh,GB Upadhyay,S Shankar,SSS Sarma,Arun Kumar Dhawan , Ram Pahl,Maddali Ram Jogesh, Satish Chauhan,Abdul Kaseem Qasim,Sumita Singh,Suresh Kumar Sharma, Sham Lal,PK Ravi, Baljit Singh,Ram Swarup Punia,Pradeep Kumar,Angna Ram,Nand Kishore Kasmira,Malak Mukhopadhyay,Amar Nath Singh,Sunita Sharma,Ravindra Kumar,S.Ashraf,Gopal Sadhwani,Madhukar Sood,TKundhavi,Mohan Singh Nagra,Subhash Chandra Lather ,Ram Avatar Singh,Sunil Uniyal,G Vijayaraghavan ,CK Rawat, SP Sharma,Mohd.Moniruzzaman,MR Sharma,Sulekha,Bhajan Lal Kureel, Meher Singh Azad,Hemant Kumar Roy,Ranjit Singh,Ramesh Chand,Yogeshwar Lal, AK Sachdeva,JSuthakar,Dinesh Arora,Rishi Kumar,BN Mishra,Debasis Pal,KB Subraminan,RK Pandey,EP Muralidharan, R K Arora, Sunil Kumar Sharma,Anil Kakria, Deep Chand Madan, MA Khan,Brij Kumar,Kuldip Singh,MP Sanjeevan,Renu Sarin,VS Pandey,Pradeep Kumar Bhatnagar,Dalip Kapur,Sharmistha Bose,Tajbir Singh, KV Gopala Rao, Kiran Vasudeva,Nirmala Goyal,Bal Krishnan Dutta,Raman Kumar Gaur.

CORPORATE

Ajeet Kumar Agarwal is Director, Finance, RECL
Ajeet Kumar Agarwal, ED, RECL, has assumed the charge of Director (Finance), Rural Electrification Corporation Limited (RECL). Agarwal, who holds a Bachelor's degree in Commerce from the University of Delhi, is a Fellow Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of
India. He has 29 years experience in Public Sector Undertakings.
(We said this on January 30, 2012)

Shyamala Gopinath appointed Chairperson CCL

Former Deputy Governor of the RBI Shyamala Gopinath has been appointed Chairperson of the Clearing Corporation of India LTD (CCL).

U K Sinha inducted as Invitee Member of High Level Committee

SEBI Chairman,U K Sinha, has been inducted as Invitee Member of High Level Committee on Financing Infrastructure.

Maruti suffers low profits because of Re depreciation
Maruti Suzuki has done well for itself in the first quarter but the cost reductions initiatives have been negated due to the impact of Yen appreciation.

Partha Chatterjee is Chairman of HPL
Partha Chatterjee has been appointed as the Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd chairman and Sumantra Choudhuri, former additional chief secretary as its Managing Director.

Lal is new Plant Head of Tata Motors
A B Lal has taken over as new Plant Head of the Tata Motors.

Three new General Managers in SBT
Three new General Managers have been appointed in the State Bank of Travancore. Madana Mohan Rao (Inspection And Audit); S. Vasudevan (Priority Sector Lending, Rural Banking And Financial Inclusion) and D Babu Jayaraj (Stressed Assets Management). Now total number of GMs in the bank has risen to 10 .

Bhandari re-appointed MD & CEO, ING Vyasya Bank Ltd?
Shailendra Bhandari has been re-appointed as Managing Director and Chief Executive of ING Vyasya Bank Ltd w.e.f. August 5, 2012 .

Joshi appointed Director (HR), HPCL

Pushp Kumar Joshi has been appointed as Director (Human Resources) of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) w.e.f. August 1, 2012

Mitter appointed Director, Eveready Industries India Ltd
B Mitter has been appointed as Director of Eveready Industries India Ltd the Company w.e.f. August 1, 2012.

Narayan appointed Addl. Director, India Infoline Ltd
India Infoline Ltd has appointed Dr. S Narayan as an Additional Director of the company.

Thadani appointed Asst. Company Secy. Piramal Healthcare Ltd
Ms. Chanda Makhija Thadani has been appointed as Assistant Company Secretary of Piramal Healthcare Ltd .

Bhatt appointed Company Secy., Bodal Chemicals Ltd
Ashutosh B Bhatt has been appointed as a Company Secretary of Bodal Chemicals Ltd. .

Modi appointed Addl. Director, Arcadia Mercantile Capital Ltd
Arcadia Mercantile Capital Ltd has appointed Keyur B Modi as Additional Director of the company w.e.f. July 27, 2012.

Boucinha appointed Director, Sanofi India Ltd
Ms. Virginie Boucinha has been appointed as Director of Sanofi India Ltd w.e.f. July 25, 2012.

Shankar appointed Director of ITC
Meera Shankar has been appointed as Director of ITC.

Mundra appointed CFO of Jai Corp
Raj Kumar Mundra has been appointed as CFO of Jai Corp.

Shastri quits Kemrock Industries
Venugopal Shahstri has resigned as Director of Kemrock Industries.

Kilachand appointed Additional Director of Polychem
Namdish Kilachand has been appointed as Additional Director of Polychem.

Galande appointed Director of IFCI
Ashok Galande has been appointed as Director of IFCI.

Ray appointed Additional Director, Assam Company India
Sarvardam Ray has been appointed as Additional Director of Assam Company India.

Milloy ceases to be Director of Cummins India
Sean Milloy has ceased to be Director of Cummins India

Sridhar appointed Director of Ferro Alloy
S Sridhar has been appointed as Director of Ferro Alloy

Quinn quits Entegra
Dennis Quinn has resigned as Director of Entegra.

Kumar appointed Additional Director, Mega Corp
Shurab Kumar has been appointed as Additional Director of Mega Corp.

(The views expressed in this column are of the contributors. We do not owe any responsibility, whatsoever, of the views of our surfers as they are their personal opinion. However, we would also request our contributors not to be personal, directly or indirectly, in presenting their views. Instead of countering the views which ‘X’ has already expressed, our contributors are advised to present their own views. Also be brief, say about 200 words at the most since any views longer than that if eliminated at our end would carry the risk of the contrbutor’s item losing its original essence)

Formula for political success

If half the country remains without power, you become Home Minister.To become Prime Minister you have to plunge the whole country into darkness.

M N Buch

It is remarkable

Recently there have been a spate of orders /appointments of IAS officers. The alacrity with which the ACC and the PMO have moved is remarkable and noticeable sad to see utter insensitivity in the case of orders of CBEC and CBDT. The file was kept pending in the hallowed office for no particular reason. The delaying tactics causes a lot of heartburn amongst the deserving officers who have been silently waiting for their due .

A K Prasad

Things will definitely change

Yes, transfer brings change and is a must. I congratulate V.P Singh on becoming DDG(P) in Department of Post. I want to avoid listing the bad things during tenure of his previous incumbent. Now with a balanced mature officer like Singh, things will definitely change. He is effective officer who is taking up the cause of honest officers. Now honest officers being persecuted by his predecessor can breathe easy. Good times are here to stay.

Pritpal Singh

Period of indecisiveness will hopefully be over

We hope period of indecisiveness will be over. Now unnecessary references to other ministries will not be made to avoid decision. Perfect example is reference to DOPT about who is the competent authority to decide memorials addressed to President. Unnecessary reference has been made to DoPT when even a Minister (Cabinet) can decide it using his Presidential powers even though he has already decided the appeal as head of the ministry. Because DDG never wanted to take decision the buck was passed to DOPT where decision is pending for the last five months. Ultimately who is responsible if DPC ignores their names. Senior officers will lose promotion before retirement

Nandu Singh

RIT

Information regarding the Cabinet meetings for a period of seven years

The request for information in respect of the Cabinet meetings held over a period of seven years was refused claiming that providing the information about all the items/ subjects considered in the meetings held during this entire period would disproportionately divert the resources of the public authority and therefore, could not be disclosed as per section 7(9) of the RTI Act. The Public Information Officer (PIO) denied the decisions taken in the meetings under section 8(1)(i) stating that they are a part of the Cabinet papers and it was for the sponsoring ministry to decide finally if the Cabinet papers could be disclosed having implemented the Cabinet decision. Regarding the minutes of the meetings he invited the appellant to inspect the minutes register maintained in the Cabinet Secretariat. During the hearing, the respondent explained that every year, about 400 to 450 items came up for discussion in the Cabinet from various ministries and departments of the government and over a period of seven years, this number would be close to 3000 items. He submitted that collecting and providing this information to the appellant would be an extremely time consuming task and would disproportionately divert the resources of the Cabinet Secretariat. However, he offered that specific information in this regard would be provided if the appellant would identify any particular item or a few of those items. The Central Information Commission (CIC) agreed with the contentions of the respondent and advised the appellant to be more specific and ask for details of a few of these items so that the PIO can provide such information without putting strain on the resources of the Cabinet Secretariat. The Commission also observed that it is only the sponsoring Ministry or Department which can take a decision as to whether a particular Cabinet decision has been fully implemented or not; the Cabinet Secretariat cannot take such a call and decide about disclosing any Cabinet decision except those which arise out of any proposal of the Cabinet Secretariat itself.

Comments

The discussions in the matter point out that there is no mechanism at the level of the cabinet to be regularly updated about what action has been taken regarding a particular decision taken by it. It raises a question whether there should be a monitoring mechanism with the Cabinet to know of the fate of the decision taken by it?

Citation: Mr. R M V S Anil Kumar v. Cabinet Secretariat in File No.CIC/SM/A/2011/001691

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)