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BBS

Poll prospects to UPA may be hit
Poll prospects of the UPA being headed by Ms.Sonia Gandhi are likely to be adversely hit because many of the infrastructure related projects are yet to translate into a reality. It is so because they are yet to get environmental clearance from the Central Government's Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) being headed by Ms. Jayanthi Natrajan Minister of State with independent charge.

Are the major parties losing their grip over coalition partners?
The hot topic of discussion is that the Congress and the BJP are losing their grip over their coalition partners. Allies have become more assertive in the UPA and the NDA and they have been openly working against the interest of the big parties for some time now. They have been asserting rather openly that the prime minister's job can no more be exclusive privilege of the big parties.

Who is crushing Nitish' ambition?
Is Sharad Yadav in denial over Nitish Kumar's prime ministerial ambition and thereby containing it?

BUREAUCRACY

Y V Reddy to be Chairman, 14th Finance Commission?
In all probability former RBI Governor, Y V Reddy will be Chairman of the 14th Finance Commission being constituted by the Government of India. His meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has fuelled speculations to this effect. Name of former RBI Governor, Bimal Jalan was also in circulation for this post.

Who will be new CJ of Allahabad HC?
Grapevine has it that senior most Judge of the Patna High Court Justice, Shiva Kirti Singh is going to succeed Justice Syed Rafat Alam Khan as Chief Justice of the Allhabad High Court.

Justice Alam to take over as Chairman of CAT this week
Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court, Justice Syed Rafat Alam, who retired on Tuesday, will take over as new Chairman of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) this week.
(We said this on March 20)

Takru to move as AS and FA Health ?
Additional Secretary Information and Broadcasting Rajiv Takru is being moved as Additional Secretary and FA in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. He is a 1979 batch IAS officer of Gujrat cadre.

TR Bajalia's file DMD, SIDBI reaches ACC
TR Bajalia who is currently Executive Director (ED) IDBI Bank Limited, will be new Deputy Managing Director (DMD) of SIDBI.His file has reached the ACC.
(We said this on February 7, 2012)

2 CMDs of PS banks to be laterally shifted
As the grapevine has it, once again it is in the air that two senior Chairman and Managing Directors(CMDs) will be shifted to vacancies that are going arise in 2012-13. They are: Arun Kaul,CMD UCO Bank and TM Bhasin, Indian Bank.However, it is being keenly watched in banking and business sector that as to whether this would happen or not?.

Uncertainty prevails in Coal sector
An air of uncertainty prevails in the coal sector as Eight senior level CMDs and Directors in different offshoots of Coal India Ltd (CIL) are still awaiting extension orders. However, it has been over delayed for want of clearance by the CVC's office.

Dr. Zaidi takes over as Election Commissioner
Dr. Syed Nasim Ahmad Zaidi has assumed the charge as Election Commissioner in the Election Commission of India. He is a former 1976 batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre.
(We said this on August 1, 2012)

Empanelment of 1989 batch IPS soon
Empanelment of 1989 batch IPS officers for Joint Secretary in the Government of India is expected to take place in a month or two.

PC to have upper hand in CBDT and CBEC?
It is widely believed in the North-Block that after the arrival of P Chidambaram in the Finance Ministry, the CBEC and the CBDT will have no upper hand in the changes.

Many projects stuck due to delay in nod by MoEF
There are many projects that are yet to begin. Thanks to delays in clearances by the Central Government's Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) being headed by Ms. Jayanthi Natrajan, Minister of State with Independent charge.

Anand Sharma wanted Rajiv Kher for Brussels posting?
If insiders are to be believed, the Commerce Minister was pushing the case of 1980 batch IAS officer of UP cadre Rajiv Kher for the appointment as Ambassador of India to the Council of the European Union and the European Commission in Brussels. He, however, lost to IFS officer.

T K Viswanathan to get one year extension?
Secretary General of the Lok Sabha, T K Viswanathan is likely to get one year extension in service. His tenure is coming to an end in September.

SC Collegium unlikely to meet this month
Supreme Court Collegium is unlikely to meet this month because of absence of a senior Judge.

Arvind Mayaram on the Board of RBI
Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs Arvind Mayaram has been nominated as a Director on the Central Board of Directors of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

Sayeed Ahmed Baba to move to Kabul
Syeed Ahmed Baba, Secretary- Department of Cooperation, Government of West Bengal, will move to Kabul. DoPT has selected 1988 batch IAS officer of West Bengal cadre in Kabul.

Abhay Tripathi to join NDC
Abhay Tripathi is joining the National Defence College as Joint Secretary. He is 1986 batch IAS officer of Andhra Pradesh cadre.
(We said this on July 17,2012)

Lt Gen Ashok Singh is head of NDA
Lt. Gen. Ashok Singh has taken over as the new commandant of the National Defence Academy (NDA).

Goyal is DG, IGNFA, Dehradun
As the grapevine has it, R K Goyal had joined as new Director General (DG) of the Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy (IGNFA), Dehradun. He is an Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer of 1977 batch who belongs to the UT cadre.
(We said this earlier and on August 2, 2012)

Maharashtra cadre IPS officer gets deputation in home state
As the grapevine has it, a 2000 batch IPS officer of Maharashtra cadre reportedly has got inter cadre deputation in the home state of U.P.

Lokesh Chandra moves with Shinde
Lokesh Chandra continues to be PS to Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde. He is 1993 batch IAS officer of Maharashtra cadre.

Mahesh Sharma continues as APS to Shinde
Mahesh Sharma has moved as APS to Union Home Minister, Sushil Kumar Shinde.

Vijaykumaran deputed to Pondicherry University
K Vijayakumaran, Principal Director, Regional Training Institute, Chennai, has been deputed to the University for appointment as Finance Officer for a period of two years.

Vinod Kumar completes his central deputation
Vinod Kumar, Officer of Indian P&T, Accounts and Finance Service (1989 batch), has completed his five years Central Deputation as Director in the Office of Custodian, Ministry of Finance. His case for further extension, duly recommended by the then Finance Minister, Pranab Mukharjeeis under active consideration in the DoPT.

Rahul Anand asked to return or face music?
A 1995 batch IAS officer of Himachal Pradesh cadre, Rahul Anand has been asked to report to the Government or face music. Anand has been on study leave since 2005.

Director level Reshuffle in DEA
Work allocation of eight Directors in the Department of Economic Affairs has been reshuffled by the new Finance Minister P Chidambaram.

Prakash posted as Director, DoPT
Central Secretariat Service (CSS) officer, Prakash has been appointed as Director in the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT). Earlier, he was in Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas in Government of India.

Bharadwaj goes to Shanghai
First Secretary in Indian High Commission in Port of Spain M P Bharadwaj has been moved to Shanghai.

K L Sharma empanelled as Joint Secretary in GoI
K L Sharma, a 1998 batch SGSL batch officer of Central Secretariat Services, has been empanelled as Joint Secretary or equivalent under CSS in Government of India.

PESB seeks applications for Director (Finance), BEML
Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) is seeking applications for the post of Director (Finance), BEML Limited fallen vacant on October 1, 2013. Those willing to apply can send their applications to PESB before October 12, 2012.

Nair to be DG NDRF (UPDATED)
P M Nair, Special DG, Operations, CRPF HQrs is being appointed as DG, National Disaster Management and Civil Defence(NDRF&CD). His name has gone to the ACC for approval.He is an IPS officer of 1978 batch who belongs to the Bihar cadre.

Two IRS officers deputed to Review Committee (UPDATED)
Two officers of Indian Revenue Service (IRS), Sobhan Kar, Additional Commissioner, APA, Delhi and D Prabhakar Reddy, Additional Director of Income Tax, TPO2, Mumbai, have been deputed to work in the Committee constituted to review taxation of development centres and IT sector under the chairmanship of N Rangachary, former CBDT chairman.

Ms. Deep Shikha Sharma posted as Deputy Secretary, CBDT (UPDATED)
Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer, Ms. Deep Shikha Sharma has been appointed as Deputy Secretary (ITA-I) in the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) under the department of Revenue.

Mrs. Baliga inducted as Member, CBEC (UPDATED)
Indian Revenue Service (IRS-Customs) officer, Mrs. Sandhya Baliga has been inducted as Member of Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC). However, she will continue as Chief Commissioner, Delhi.

Karan Sharma gets charge of DGI, CEE (UPDATED)
Indian Revenue Service (IRS-customs) officer, Karan K Sharma, Director General, Audit, has been assigned additional charge of DGI, CCE.

7 IRS (Cus) officers transferred (UPDATED)
As many as seven officers of Indian Revenue Service (IRS-customs) working in the grade of Commissioner of Customs & Central Excise have been transferred and posted at different places. Accordingly, Rajesh Pande has been shifted to Pune CX Appeal III while B K Malik is now being appointed at Settlement Commission, Kolkata and Mrs. Ranjana Jha is posted to Joint CDR, Delhi. Similarly, Vivek Chaturvedi has been posted to CX, Kolkata VII; Gurdeep Singh to Kolkata Customs Port; K K Jaiswal to Kolkata Service Tax and Dr. Ram Niwas has been shifted to Ranchi CX.

Tenure of Gautam Sen as Adviser (Fin) to Nagaland Govt extended (UPDATED)
The tenure of Gautam Sen as Adviser (Finance) to Nagalanad Government has been further extended for a period of one year beyond August 9, 2012. He has been serving the same since August 2011. Sen is an IDAS officer of 1976 batch.

12 IAS officers of 2010 batch get new postings in MP (UPDATED)
As many as 12 officers of Indian Administrative Service (IAS) of 2010 batch have been transferred and posted at different places in the field in Madhya Pradesh. Accordingly, Anay Dwivedi has been posted as SDO (Revenue), Bijawar in Chhatarpur while Mrs. Tanvi Sunderiyal Bahuguna will now be SDO (Revenue), Saunser, Chhindwara and Tarun Rathi is SDO, Pipariya, Hoshangabad. Similarly, Ganesh Shankar Mishra has been appointed as SDO (Revenue), Multai, Betul; Abhijit Agrawal as SDO (Revenue),Maihar, Satna; Karmveer Singh as SDO (Revenue), Bina with additional charge of Khurai, Sagar; Kaushlendra Vikram Singh as SDO, (Revenue), Kewalari, Seoni; Anurag Chaudhary as SDO (Revenue), Dabra, Gwalior; Bhaskar Lakshakar as SDO, (Revenue), Chanderi, Ashok Nagar and Ashish Singh has been made SDO (Revenue), Baihar, Balaghat.

Sanjay Kothari posted Secretary, Admin Reforms & Pensions (UPDATED)
Sanjay Kothari, Special Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, has been appointed as Secretary, Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances and Department of Pensions & Pensioners Welfare, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions. He is a 1978 batch IAS officer of Haryana cadre.
(We said this on August 6)

Ravinder Kumar Jain is Addl. Secretary, Health (UPDATED)
Ravinder Kumar Jain, Additional Secretary and Financial Adviser, Department of Health and Family Welfare, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, has been appointed as Additional Secretary, Department of Health and Family Welfare, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. He is a 1981 batch IAS officer of Himachal Pradesh cadre.

Khurshid Ahmed Ganai posted as Addl. Secretary, MHA (UPDATED)
Khurshid Ahmed Ganai, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, has been appointed as Additional Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs. He is a 1982 batch IAS officer of Jammu & Kashmir cadre.
(We said this on August 4)

Ms. Nita Chowdhury is also Secretary, Sports (UPDATED)
Ms. Nita Chowdhury, Secretary, Department of Youth Affairs, has been assigned an additional charge of Secretary, Department of Sports. She is a 1977 batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre.

CORPORATE

SBI Chairman Chaudhuri inducted in newly constituted BSIIAC
SBI chairman Pratip Chaudhuri has been inducted as Member in newly constituted Bihar State Industrial Investment Advisory Council (BSIIAC) in Bihar.

Kumar re-appointed Part-time Non Official Director, SBI
The Union Government in consultation with Reserve Bank of India has re-appointed Dr. Rajiv Kumar as Part-time Non-official Director on the Central Board of Directors of State Bank of India (SBI).

Giridhar appointed Govt. Director, ONGC
The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has appointed A. Giridhar, Joint Secretary (Exploration), Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas as a Government Director on the Board of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC)

Das appointed Non-official Part Time Director, ONGC
Union Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, Govt of has now appointed Ms Anita Das as Non-official Part time Director of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd (ONGC) .

Is Raymonds doing badly?
It is heard that Raymond is doing badly and that the company is looking at downsizing in the coming few quarters.

Dass quits Dhanalaxmi Bank
Ghanshyam Dass has resigned as Director of Dhanalaxmi Bank.

Gupta quits Medicamen Biotech
Piyush Kumar Gupta has resigned as Director of Medicamen Biotech.

Takahashi appointed Alternate Director, Pricol
Nobuhiro Takahashi has been appointed as Alternate Director of Pricol.

Srivastava appointed Director of Nicco Corporation
Rajiv Srivastav has been appointed Director of Nicco Corporation.

Gupta quits Mangalam Cement
RC Gupta has resigned as Company Secretary of Mangalam Cement .

Kumar ceases to be Director of Vinyl Chemicals
Santosh Kumar has ceased to be Director of Vinyl Chemicals.

Mukherjee appointed Addl. Director,Orissa Sponge Iron and Steel
AK Mukherjee has been appointed as an Additional Director of Orissa Sponge Iron and Steel

Singhal quits Indo Rama Synthetics (India) Ltd
Deepak Singhal, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Indo Rama Synthetics (India) Ltd has resigned from the company.

Mohan to take charge as Acting CFO, Indo Rama Synthetics (India) Ltd
Amit Mohan will take charge as acting Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Indo Rama Synthetics (India) Ltd with immediate effect.

Dass quits Dhanlaxmi Bank Ltd
Ghanshyam Dass, Non Executive Independent Director of Dhanlaxmi Bank Ltd has resigned from the company

Chaudhari ceases to be Independent Director, Usha Martin Ltd
A K Chaudhari, Non Executive Independent Director has ceased to be on the Board of Usha Martin Ltd.

Thakur appointed Company Secy., Ace Edutrend Ltd
Sudist Kumar Thakur has been appointed as Company Secretary of Ace Edutrend Ltd .

Jain quits Tijaria Polypipes Ltd
Tej Kumar Jain has resigned as Company Secretary of Tijaria Polypipes Ltd with immediate effect

Gupta quits Asshree Infotech Ltd
Kamal Gupta has resigned as Director of Aashee Infotech Ltd.

Vesvikar appointed Company Secy., Arrow Textiles Ltd
Ms. Sushama Sudhakar Vesvikar has been appointed as the Company Secretary of Arrow Textiles Ltd .

(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)

Integrity of the system is at stake

There is so much erosion of old world standards of honesty, ethics, uprightness etc. in our government officers. It has led to loss of faith in the system. So much so the integrity of system is at stake. The Manmohan Singh Government must and should take concrete steps to strengthen and restore faith in the system. Merely writing verbose letters with no action will not serve the purpose. The deterioration in the system has led to most ineffective officers holding positions of power but no will and capability or competence to bring change. Therefore the bureaucracy needs a total overhaul. Politicians have been preferring docile, servile incompetent officers as they feel confident in their presence. The competent officers are being posted as OSD(Rules) and some such vague posts. Now for a change let the government give preference to officers having the zeal and energy to bring change. Let promotions and continuance in service be purely based on examinations to be held before each examination. This will ensure the incompetent shirkers who have never worked in the field to be eliminated. Only officers with experience and knowledge will qualify. Those file shufflers sitting in comfort in Delhi jumping from one deputation to another and willing to go to any length to sell off the interests of the country in lieu of remaining in Delhi will automatically be eliminated.

Dimpy Chopra

Tenure of Defence Secretary needs to be reviewed

The policy of giving two years fixed tenure to Defence Secretary needs to be reviewed in the background of Ministry of Defence stand off with Army Chief followed by inordinate delay in deployment of army to come to aid of civil authority in Assam where delay resulted in avoidable loss of valuable lives and misery and hardship to people who were forced to leave their homes and seek shelter in relief camps. These two examples are sufficient to indicate the level of competence of Defence Secretary.

Sudhir Chopra

Team Anna vanishes into blue

Gypsy camp called Team Anna has finally vanished into the blue. Annaji, kindly select people, who will not have personal ambition when you start the movement again.

A Barui

Baba Ramdev and Anna

Earlier, Baba Ramdev and Now Anna. Both the persons are 'Gurus' in their respective field. One is 'Yog Guru' and the other is 'Social Guru'. They both have raised voice against VIP corruption in India but have the same fate. Being a citizen of India I feel sorry for both of them.

Deep

No transfer policy

There is no transfer policy for IDAS officers. They are transferred just on the wishes of the CGDA. Transfers are issued throughout the year and there is no culture of biannual transfer list.

Surfer

RIT

Should the PIO transfer the RTI applications to concerned public authority in all cases?

The appellant filed an application under Right to Information (RTI) Act with the President's Secretariat seeking information related to the news of IPS Officer's murder. In response to the application, the Public Information Officer (PIO) gave the name of the department from where the desired information could be obtained. The appellant requested the First Appellate Authority (FAA) to direct the PIO to transfer his petition to the concerned Public Authorities. The FAA also advised the appellant to seek the information directly from the concerned department. During the hearing before the Central Information Commission (CIC), the appellant submitted that instead of advising him to approach the respective ministries for getting further information the PIO should have transferred his RTI application to the concerned PIO in the respective ministries. The respondent submitted that the appellant knew about where the desired information could be found and he should directly apply to those public authorities and not seek the information from the President Secretariat or expect them to transfer his RTI application to other public authorities. The Central Information Commission (CIC) observed that wherever the PIO knows clearly where the desired information could be found he should invariably transfer the RTI application to the PIO of that public authority and should not expect the information seeker to make separate RTI applications. Since the PIO of the President secretariat knew that the grievance of the appellant had been transferred to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), he should have transferred the
application also.

Comments

The view of the different benches of the CIC has varied on the interpretation of this issue as to whether the applicant is expected to file an application to the PIO of the concerned public authority. The disposal of the RTI application by the PIO has been as per the DoPT circulars (http://www.rtifoundationofindia.com/dopt-814) and (http://www.rtifoundationofindia.com/dopt-742). Perhaps, the higher judiciary should step in to set aside the confusion and decide the issue.

Citation: Mr. Subhash Chandra Agrawal v. President's Secretariat in File No.CIC/SM/A/2012/000754

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)