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President saw Lok Sabha proceedings on TV?
According to insiders, President Pranab Mukherjee watched Lok Sabha proceedings with keen interest on the TV screen.

Shinde to visit J & K
Sushil Kumar Shinde, Union Home Minister will be visiting to J&K to review security situations on 10 and 11 August.

What is hurting Bharti's revenues?
It is difficult to see major improvement in Bharti's domestic business anytime soon as significant cut has been taken by the companies of 3G tariffs and lot of regulatory uncertainties are prevailing.

Orissa University to honour CIC
Chief Information Commissioner Satyanand Mishra is being honoured by Ravenshaw University ,Cuttak with Honoris Causa on August 13.

BUREAUCRACY

Raghuram Rajan is new CEA
Professor of Finance in the University of Chicago, Raghuram G Rajan has been cleared for the post of Chief Economic Advisor. Tenure of present Chief Economic Advisor, Kaushik Basu has ended on July 31. He is expected to join in December.
(We said this on July 3)

Four Secretary level posts in GoI going to be vacant
As the grapevine has it, as many as four Secretary-level posts in the Government of India are going to be vacant by the month of August (or 1st week of Sept.) this year.

Nair to be DG, NDRF
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 of Bihar cadre.

Who will be Additional Secretary,Telecom ?
Hectic lobbying is on for the post of Additional Secretary, Telecom, position which has fallen vacant after S R Rao moved as Commerce Secretary.

Mrs. Baliga inducted as Member, CBEC (CBEC)
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.

Ravinder Kumar Jain is now Addl. Secretary, Health
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.

Ms. Nita Chowdhury is also Secretary, Sports
Ms. Nita Chowdhury, Secretary, Department of Youth Affairs, has been assigned an Additional charge of Secretary, Department of Sports till August 17. She is a 1977 batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre.

DoPT selects 1996 batch IAAS officer for UNDP project in Kabul
Vibhu Datt Basantia will join UNDP project in Kabul. He is an Indian Audit & Accounts Services officer of 1996 batch.

Is UP CM going to get a Cop to add one more feather in his cap?
There are whispers in the corridors of power that UP CM, Akhilesh Yadav is going to get an IPS officer from Maharshtra on inter-cadre deputation who would advise him on the application of Information Technology in governance? .

S Raman shortlisted for BIFR ?
As the grapevine has it, S Raman,Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of the Canara Bank has been shortlisted for Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR).

7 shortlisted for top post of Paradeep Port Trust
As many as seven incumbents have been shortlisted for the post Chairman, Paradeep Port Trust. Among others is Manoj Kumar Parida, IAS (AGMU cadre: 1986 batch).

Valasa Kumar promoted as ADG in CRPF
P Valasa Kumar, Inspector General of Police, Western Sector, CRPF, Navi Mumbai, has been promoted as Additional Director General (ADG), CRPF. He is a CRPF cadre officer.

Sujeet Pande to get extension in CBI ?
The Central Deputation tenure of Sujeet Pande, DIG,Training, CBI is likely to be extended for two years. He is an IPS officer of 1994 batch who belongs to the UP cadre.

IPS officer to be GM,FCI ?
Bhupendra Sahu is likely to be appointed as GM, Food Corporation of India (FCI),Gujrat Government of India. He is an IPS officer of 1999 batch who belongs to the Rajasthan cadre.

Vipul Kumar to go on Study leave
Vipul Kumar, Assistant, SVP, National Police Academy, Hydrabad is likely to go on a study leave for three years. He is an IPS officer of 1999 batch who belongs to the Karnataka cadre.

Custodian Office under Finance Ministry working without Custodian and Director
The Office of Custodian under Ministry of Finance is working without Custodian and Director for last two months. The office has crippled without Heads. The pending matters in Special Court Bombay, which are more than 250, are not being defended properly by the advocates due to lack of monitoring.

IPS reshuffles on the anvil in Rajasthan
As the grapevine has it, exercise for transfers of IPS officers has started in Rajasthan.

Rajesh Kumar appointed Dy.Secretary,Science and Technology
Rajesh Kumar has been appointed as Deputy Secretary, Ministry of Science & Technology, Government of India. He is a Central Power Engineering service officer of 2001 batch.

Vivek Narayan is new Director, Youth Affairs and Sports
Vivek Narayan has been appointed as Director, Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports, Government of India. He is an Indian Telecom Service (ITS) officer of 1990 batch.

Indu Rani Dubey is Director Steel
Ms. Indu Rani Dubey has been appointed as Director, Ministry of Steel, Government of India. She is an IRTS officer of 1994 batch.

Rajeev Krishna to be IG, BSF
Rajeev Krishna is all set to join as IG,BSF shortly. He is a 1991 batch IPS officer of UP cadre.

Two IRS officers deputed to Review Committee
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
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.

Sandeep Mittal to join GoI
DIG Ramanathapuram Range in TamilNadu Sandeep Mittal has been appointed as DIG, Admin, National Institute of Criminology and Forensic Science (NICFS)New Delhi . He is an IPS officer of 1995 batch who belongs to the TN cadre.

Subhash Sharma to return Bihar
Joint Secretary, Defence, Subhash Sharma is likely to return to the parent Bihar cadre after completion of deputation tenure on August 31.He is an IAS officer of 1984 batch who belongs to the Bihar cadre.

Deshpande moves to MEA,Headquarters
Consul in Shanghai, Ninad Deshpande has been transferred to the Ministry of External Affairs Headquarters.

Nalin Prabhat appointed IG,CRPF
Nalin Prabhat has been appointed as IG in the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).He is a 1992 batch IPS officer of Andhra Pradesh cadre.

A creative streak by IPS officer
It was his love for art that led IPS officer, Ajay Choudhary, a self taught artist to follow his childhood passion of painting. However, this should come as no surprises, one the foremost Indian artist, the late MF Hussain has branded Choudhary's work as a ' living art form'. This year end, the art fraternity will get a glimpse of the artist's creative journey at Vadodara, where a retrospective art show, displaying 15 years of Choudhary's creativity will be unveiled. A solo exhibition of abstract works, it includes a vast range of works from small drawings to more ambitious creations (6x12 feet). 'For me it will be very exciting for my work to be displaying amongst my friends and colleagues' says the artist.

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

12 IAS officers of 2010 batch shifted in MP
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.

Sudhakar Rao and P K Mishra in the panel
Sudhakar Rao, IAS 73, Former Chief Secretary of Karnataka and Prasanna K Misra, IRS 1971, Former Chairman CBDT & Currently Chairman Adjudicating Authority, Prevention of Money Laundering have been selected as Members of the Panel who will select officers of various
services for empanelment as Joint Secretary's to Govt of India.

Important task assigned to P & T Accounts and Finance Service
An important task has been assigned by the Government to Indian P&T Accounts and Finance Service. The service through their field offices will be instrumental in providing Mobile phones to BPL households across the country under Universal Service obligation Fund (USOF).

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


Odisha Tourism bags best heritage tourism award
Odisha Tourism has been awarded as best heritage tourism destination by Today's Traveller - a leading travel magazine. The magazine has also given award to leading tour operator, travel agent and tourism corporations across the Country for different tourism related activities. Manoranjan Patnaik, General Manager, OTDC Ltd. had received the award on behalf of Odisha Tourism from Indian Minister for Tourism Subodh Kant Sahai on August 7,.2012 in New Delhi.

7 IRS (Cus.) officers transferred
As many as seven officers of Indian Revenue Service (IRS-customs) working in the grade of Commissioner of Customs & Central Excise (CCCE) 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.

Two CSS officers posted as Deputy Secretaries, DoPT
Two Central Secretariat Service (CSS) officers, P K Ravi and Amarjit Singh have been appointed as Deputy Secretary in the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT).

Mrs. Radhakrishnan shifted to SWR
Mrs. Padmini Radhakrishnan, SAG/IRAS/RWF, has been transferred to SWR and posted as FA&CAO(Con)BNC/SWR.

Tenure of Gautam Sen as Adviser (Fin) to Nagaland Govt extended
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. He is an IDAS officer of 1976 batch.

Ralte is CEO,Chandigarh Housing Board
UT cadre, IAS officer Rodney L Ralte, who has come from Mizoram has been given the charge of Chief Executive Officer, Chandigarh Housing Board.

IPS postings in UP
SP Kannauj Vinod Kumar Singh has been transferred as SP,Railways Gorakhpur.Amit Pathak will now be SP,STF,Lucknow.

PESB seeks applications for Director, NLC
Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) is seeking applications for the post of Director, Neyveli Lignite Corporation Limited (NLC) fallen vacant since July 1, 2012. Those willing to apply can send their applications to PESB before September 25, 2012.

Two judges appointed to Patna High Court (UPDATED)
Two Additional Judges, Justice Gopal Prasad and Justice Hemant Kumar Srivastava have been appointed as Judges of Patna High Court.

1987 batch IPS officer quits service in MP (UPDATED)
P M Mohan, Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), PHQ, Bhopal, has resigned from the service. The Madhya Pradesh Government has accepted his resignation and retired him with effect from August 9, 2012.

Cadre of IAS officer transferred to AGMUT (UPDATED)
The cadre of Ms. Arti Lal has been transferred from Gujarat to AGMUT on marriage ground to Gaurav Sharma, a 2009 batch IPS officer of AGMUT. Ms. Lal is a 2010 batch IAS officer of Gujarat cadre.

Siddique goes as PS to Chidambaram (UPDATED)
M A Siddique has moved to the Finance Ministry as PS to Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram. He is 1995 batch IAS officer of TamilNadu cadre.

PDG formed for security of Parliament House (UPDATED)
The proposal to form the Parliament Duty Group (PDG) has been finally materialized for the security of Parliament House. This group is formed to deal with the security threats.


IRS-IT officer quits service (UPDATED)
Indian Revenue Service (IRS-IT) officer, K Shubhendra has resigned from the service.


Vashist appointed First Comdt., Parliament Duty Group (UPDATED)
Ajay Kumar Vashist, Senior Commandant, CRPF, has been appointed as First Commandant of Parliament Duty Group. He was already looking after the security of Parliament House New Delhi. He is a directly appointed gazetted officer of 1992 batch.


Govt to shut down Food processing unit of HMT(UPDATED)
The Government of India has approved a closure of unviable Food Processing Machinery Unit, Aurangabad of HMT Limited


Four IRS-IT promoted to DCIT (UPDATED)
Four officers of Indian Revenue Service (IRS-IT) have been promoted to the grade of Deputy Commissioner of Income Tax (Senior Time Scale). The officers include Jagdish Narayan Sharma, S M Shrivastava and Lakhan Lal Choubey.


IRS-IT officer Amit Nigam gets selection grade (UPDATED)
Indian Revenue Service (IRS-IT) officer, Amit Nigam, presently Joint Commissioner of Income Tax has been accorded selection grade (non-functional).

NDA & Naval Academy Examination results declared (UPDATED)
Union Public Service Commission has announced the result of the written part of the National Defence Academy and Naval Academy Examination (I) 2012 held on April 15, 2012.

CORPORATE

Anand Mahindra to head M & M Group
Keshub Mahindra has retired as Chairman of Mahindra & Mahindra Group and handed over the baton to Vice-Chairman and Managing Director Anand Mahindra.

Godrej & Boyce Chairman Jamshyd in newly constituted BSIIAC
Godrej & Boyce Chairman Jamshyd Godrej has been inducted as Member in newly constituted Bihar State Industrial Investment Advisory Council (BSIIAC) in Bihar.

Bhat appointed as Director of Mount Everest Mineral Water
Harish Bhat has been appointed as Director of Mount Everest Mineral Water

Sharma quits Shreyas Intermediates
Shankarlal Sharma has resigned as Director of Shreyas Intermediates.

Salian quits Mirch Techonologies
Sadashiv Salian resigns as Director of Mirch Techonologies

Francis appointed as Director of Surana Telecom
Rajan has been appointed as Director of Surana Telecom

Gupta quits Aashee Infotech
Kamal Gupta resigns as Director of Aashee Infotech

Ramani appointed as Director of Innoventive Industries
Bhagyaam Ramani appointed as Director of Innoventive Industries

Madaan quits SAL Steel Ltd
Saurabh Madaan has resigned as Company Secretary of SAL Steel Ltd

Gandhi appointed Addl. Director, Sundaram Clayton Ltd
Sundaram Clayton Limited has appointed Kamlesh Gandhi as an Additional Director of the company.

Dhir quits Cairn India Ltd
Rahul Dhir has quit Cairn India Ltd as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer.

Kalra appointed VP, EEMA
Ankur Kalra has been elected Vice President of Event & Entertainment Management Association (EEMA)

Atri appointed ED, Agro Dutch Industries Ltd
Agro Dutch Industries Limited has appointed Vivek Atri as Executive Director of the company.

Two Ind. Directors on Dutch Industries Board
Ajay Arora and Multan Singh Kadian have been appointed as Independent Directors on Board of Agro Dutch Industries Ltd.

Hardikar appoints Senior VP (E-Comm & CRM Practice), Ogilvy One India
Ogilvy One India has appointed Harshad Hardikar as Senior Vice President ( E-Commerce and CRM Practice ).

Asawa quits Bilss GVS Pharma Ltd
Ms. Jyoti Asawa has resigned as Company Secretary of Bliss GVS Pharma Ltd

Francis appointed Whole-time Director, Surana Telecom and Power Ltd
Surana Telecom and Power Ltd has appointed N Rajan Francis as Whole-time Director of the company

Talwalkar appointed Executive Creative Director, Commonwealth Mumbai Hub
Sachin Talwalkar has been appointed as Executive Creative Director, Commonwealth Mumbai Hub.

(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)

Importance to caste

In India we give too much importance to caste. Elections are fought on castes. Even bureaucracy suffers from caste and language bias. If the top head of an office belongs to a particular caste or speaks a particular language he or she would like to surround himself/herself by his own ilk. Brahmins, Kaysths, Tamil, Malayali, Kannada, Telgu. Even at top level such biases abound at the cost of officers from different castes and language speaking. Of course some are more notorious in this respect. To my mind this is subverting the nationality of bureaucracy and should therefore be criticised and those who indulge in this not be spared. Why should the officer indulging in this game of replacing good serving officers with his or her 'own people' without any rationale be tolerated?

Aarti Khosla

How secretaries are selected ?

The unsavoury controversy in these columns about former DGCA's unceremonious exit must be put to rest. There is a need to carry out systemic changes rather than indulge in blame game. Selection of officers above Joint Secretary level are considered by an Officials committee of Secretaries headed by the Cabinet Secretary. The panel is supposed to choose officers with ability and integrity. The panel lists out 3 names for each post. These are forwarded to the Appointments committee of Cabinet (ACC) comprising of Ministers concerned and headed by the de jure PM. The list is arranged merit wise but ACC, as the political committee is not obliged to go by merit list. Names of meritorious officers get leaked in the process leading to lobbying and mudslinging. When finally an officer is chosen on the basis of his/her Specific Suitability , he/ she is made to feel obliged for the favour done to him by the political Executive. The mischievous Specific suitability clause is an euphemism for political manipulation to plant spineless and pliable officers at key positions. The directions of ACC are invariably 'non-speaking'. The morale of civil servants is undermined by ignoring the ability and merit clause.

A K Saxena (A retired civil servant)

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)