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It's a very good site giving information about GoI postings and is very useful. It will be much more useful if vacancy details in different ministries, on deputation are also incorporated in this site.

V Chandra

Sir will again be Sir!
When Pranab Mukherjee was the Finance Minister, Manmohan Singh being RBI Governor used to call him as Sir. When Manmohan Singh became the Prime Minister Pranab had to call him as Sir and now again being the President of Indian, Manmohan Singh will have to call him as Sir.

What will be expected from the next Finance Minister?
After the cabinet reshuffle by September and a new Finance Minister is installed, action will depend on what UPA Chief Ms. Sonia Gandhi wants from the next incumbent - more reforms or someone to steer her next election agenda. No matter whether we have an earlier poll or the scheduled one in 2014, everyone will be in election mode. The Gujarat elections are due in December and elections to Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh in 2013. Besides the 2013 budget will also be the last one for the government to announce any schemes to appease the public.

Why nobody is buying the government explanation of short circuit?
It is a common knowledge that Mumbai's Mantralaya is a very well maintained and efficiently managed building with minimum mess. Then why is the explanation of short circuit causing fire not being bought by a common man? Everyone in Maharashtra who has dealt with some minister or the other knows that their cabins are state of the art and beautifully designed and such good are the interiors that a fire breaking out due to short circuit does not wash with anybody.

Is Chiranjivi suffocated?
Cine actor Chiranjivi is feeling sideline and suffocated in his alliance with the Congress party. The reason why he is sidelined is that he committed many seats for the by polls but hardly was able to deliver any. It seems like the blockbuster film star is fading into oblivion.

Will it be a year of deficient rains?
The weathermen have sounded caution on the monsoon front saying that this is going to be a year of deficient rain. They reason it with a study which says that over the past 50 years the monsoon in India has shown a dip every third year (this being the third year). The deficient rains are going to be in Madhya Pradesh, Central Maharashtra and adjoining Andhra, Karnataka, UP, and Rajasthan. The pulses and oil seeds are likely to be affected so will the rice production in this Kharif season.

Why did Ajit Pawar leave the meeting?
Deputy CM of Maharashtra Ajit Pawar was in a meeting with 15 other people when a security officer came and told him in his ear that that there was a fire. Pawar had abruptly left the meeting with 15 other being uninformed and stranded in the building later.

BUREAUCRACY

30 IAS officers retiring in June
As many as 30 Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers of various batches and cadres are retiring in June, 2012. The officers include: Kanwal Singh Mehra of AGMUT cadre while Pankaj Dwivedi, Gurunurkar Sudhir, M Purushotham Reddy of Andhra Pradesh cadre and Gayatri Barua of Assam-Meghalaya cadre. Similarly, Govind Narayan Akhauri and Hridaya Narayan Jha of Bihar cadre; S R V Prabhat of Chattisgarh cadre; P N Patel and A N Khatri of Gujarat; Vimal Chandra of Haryana cadre; Saroj Kumar Dash and Thubdan Gomphel Negi of Himachal Pradesh cadre; K H G Gowda and G Ramchandra of Karnataka cadre; Rudhdhra Gangadharan and S Subbiah of Kerala cadre; Krishna Murari Acharya and Ranjana Chowdhary of Madhya Pradesh cadre; Anna Kuryan Dani, U S Rathod (VJ), B D Sanap and S J Koche of Maharashtra cadre; Sudarsan Nayak, Kabindra Nath Khatai and Kishore Chandra Barik of Orissa cadre; Bijai Kumar Srivastava of Punjab cadre; Meenakshi Hooja and Vinod Pandya of Rajasthan cadre and M Mutia Kalaivanan of Tamil Nadu cadre.

Anil Goswami to be Secretary, Social Justice?
As the grapevine has it Anil Goswami is likely to be appointed as Secretary, Social Justice in the Government of India. He is a J & K cadre IAS officer of 1978 batch.

Madan to be AS & FA IPP!
V S Madan is likely to move as Additional Secretary and FA in the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (IPP). He is 1981 batch IAS officer of UT cadre.

Bureaucratic reshuffle on the anvil at the Centre
A bureaucratic reshuffle is going to take place once Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee quits this week.

Empanelment of 1993 batch IAS officers to be delayed
As the grapevine has it, there is a delay in empanelment of IAS officers of 1993 batch as Joint Secretaries in the Government of India (GoI).

266 posts of Judges vacant in 21 HCs
As many as 266 posts of Judges have been lying vacant in all 21 High Courts of the country against 895 approved strength including 92 posts of Permanent Judges against 574 approved strength and 174 of Additional Judges against 321 approved strength.

Who will be FCI's Northern Zone chief?
Who will be FCI's Executive Director(ED) for Northern Zone? It is still uncertain. Earlier, there was a move to post an IAS officer of 1992 batch, but that did not find a favorable atmosphere in the Government of India (GoI).

Alok Kumar, JS, Cabinet Secretariat selected for 38th APPPA

Alok Kumar, Joint Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, New Delhi, has been selected for 38th Advanced Professional Programme in Public Administration (APPPA) to be conducted from July 2, 2012 to March 31, 2013.

Rajesh Kumar Singh unlikely to join Sports Ministry
Rajesh Kumar Singh is unlikely to join Ministry of Sports as Joint Secretary. He is a 1991 batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre.

GMs postings in Railways has stamp of the Minister
Recent posting orders of General Managers (GMs) in Railways has the stamp of Minister for Railways Mukul Roy.

Sameer Kumar Khare Jt. Secretary ,Defence goes to the US
Sameer Kumar Khare who on central deputation is Joint Secretary, Defence in the Government of India (GoI) has gone to the US for four weeks training. He will be attending a course in Defence Resource Management Institute Monterey (California) from June 25 to July 20, 2012. In this course representatives from 54 nations will be participating, while Khare is the sole Indian representative. He is an Assam-Meghalaya (A-M) cadre IAS officer of 1989 batch.

Ms. Neelam Bhardwaj GM, SEBI seeks VRS
Ms. Neelam Bhardwaj, General Manager (GM) in the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has sought Voluntary Retirement from Service (VRS).

CIT transfers only next month
Transfer and posting of Commissioners of Income Tax is now expected to take place only after July 20.

Minister M K Alagiri yet to apply his mind on new Secretary Fertilizers
As the grapevine has it Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers M K Alagiri is yet to apply his mind on the issue of new Secretary, Fertilizers.

CVO posting -the graveyard of many civil servant's career
Many civil servants take up postings as Chief Vigilance Officers (CVOs) in PSUs for a short or full tenure. Often personal reasons like the need to stay in a place to retain the house for children's education etc. The job of a CVO is very sensitive. He is looked upon suspiciously by the management. The CEO/CMD is the reporting officer for the CVO. Often complaints against the CEO and the Directors are received by the CVO either from the public or from the Ministry for enquiry. This puts the CVO in a tight spot. The reviewing officer for the CVO is the Secretary of the Ministry. Unfortunately they seldom have the time to do the quarterly review as prescribed by CVC. They are often guided by the Joint Secretary of the Ministry. The CEO has much larger and wider interaction with the Ministry than the CVO. This too often does not give the correct picture to the Ministry. It is common knowledge that most senior officers avail many perks like transport, mobile phones etc at the cost of the PSU, which too puts them in a in a biased position when a difference between the CVO and CMD arises which is rather unavoidable. A colorful grading to the CVO by the CEO is also not seen kindly by the Ministry and the CVC. Thus simply put, CVO's job is an unenviable job and should be avoided unless one is willing to take the risks that go with the job laments an officer who lost out his empanelment owing to colorless CRs as CVO though he had got all outstanding grading before and after the CVO ship.

Rakesh Shrivastava is PS, Tourism in Rajasthan
Rakesh Shrivastava who on central deputation was Joint Secretary Shipping on his return to
Rajasthan cadre has assumed charge as Principal Secretary & Commissioner Tourism as well as Managing Director (MD) of the Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation (RTDC) on June 25, 2012.He is a Rajasthan cadre IAS officer of the 1981 batch.

Rajesh Yadav poised to join in UP cadre
As the grapevine has it Rajesh Yadav on inter cadre deputation is poised to join the Uttar Pradesh (UP) cadre. Presently, he is Labour Commissioner (LC) to the Rajasthan Government. He is a Rajasthan cadre IAS officer of the 1996 batch.

Ramachandran moves to Kuala Lumpur
K N Ramachandran looking after US (EAF) desk in the Ministry of External Affairs has been moved to Kuala Lumpur.

Joy Kumar Singh is again DGP of Manipur
Y Joykumar Singh has been re-appointed as DGP, Manipur. He is 1976 batch IPS officer of Manipur-Tripura cadre.

IPS changes in Manipur
DGP, Manipur R Baral has been appointed OSD Home. M K Das will again be ADG Home Guards and Prison. L K Haokip will also be Chief of Police Housing Corporation.

Acharya is Member Finance DDA
P R Acharya has been appointed Director (Finance), Delhi Development Authority in place of Deepak Trivedi. He is a 1985 batch IA&AS officer.

1996 batch IA&AS Officers promoted to Senior Administrative Grade (SAG)
15 officers of the 1996 Batch of the Indian Audit & Accounts Service (IA&AS) have been promoted to the Senior Administrative Grade (Rs. 37400-67000, Grade Pay Rs. 10000). The officers are: K S Gopinath Narayan, Manish Kumar-III, Purushottam Tiwary, Bibhudatta Basantia, Ms. Anim Cherian, V A Patwardhan, C Nedunchezhian, S. Sunil Raj, Pravindra Yadav, K P Anand, Abdul Rauf, L Hangsing, N Karunakaran, P A Ratnaparkhi and D R Patil.

Ankur Garg retained in Arunachal Pradesh till March 31, 2013
Ankur Garg, who is Secretary to Governor, Arunachal Pradesh and Secretary, Planning to the Arunachal Pradesh Government has been permitted by the Centre to be retained in Arunachal Pradesh till March 31, 2013. He is an AGMU cadre 2003 batch IAS topper.

New DG of NYKS to be appointed
Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports in the Government of India (GoI) is going to appoint new Director General (DG) of Nehru Yuwak Kendra Sangathan (NYKS) soon.

NEC to meet in Delhi on June 27
A meeting of the North Eastern Council (NEC) is scheduled to take place in Delhi on June 27, 2012. Chief Ministers, Chief Secretaries and senior Secretaries of all states from the North East will attend the NEC meet.

Service record of 200 IPS officers gutted in fire in Maharashtra
Service record of over 200 IPS officers has reportedly been destroyed in Mantralaya fire in Maharashtra.

Chhattisgarh Government accepts D.S. Surana's resignation
The Chhattisgarh Government has accepted the resignation of Advocate General (AG) Devraj Singh Surana.

Sanjay K. Agrawal to be new AG to Chhattisgarh Government
The Chhattisgarh Government has appointed Sanjay K. Agrawal as its new Advocate General (AG).

Post of Director (Tech.), SECL vacant
The post of Director (Technical), South Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL) has been lying vacant since March 1, 2012. Those willing to apply can send their applications to the PESB before August 6, 2012.

Post of Director (Tech.), ECL vacant
The post of Director (Technical), Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL) has been lying vacant since February 1, 2012. Those willing to apply can send their applications to the PESB before August 6, 2012.

Sesa-Sterlite amalgamation approved by equity shareholders (UPDATED)
Equity shareholders of Sesa Goa and Sterlite Industries (India) Limited have approved the amalgamation of Sterlite Industries (India) Limited, Madras Aluminium Company Limited, Sterlite Energy Limited, Vedanta Aluminium Limited and Sesa Goa. Shareholders of Sesa Goa met at the court-convened meeting on June 19 in Goa. Of the members present and validly voting, 91.70% in numbers representing 79.12% of votes in value voted in favour of the resolution approving the scheme. Shareholders of Sterlite Industries (India) Limited voted on the resolution for amalgamation in the Madras High Court-convened meeting on June 21. Of the members present and validly voting 89.75% in numbers representing 92% of votes in value voted in favour of the resolution approving the scheme. The schemes are now subject to the approval of the High Courts of Bombay at Goa and Madras respectively. According to the requirement, the Scheme had to be approved by the companies' equity shareholders with requisite majority, being more than 50% in numbers and 75% in value of the members present and voting at the meeting.

ONGC, CMD, Vasudeva is Chairperson, Board of Governors of NIT, Raipur (UPDATED)
Sudhir Vasudeva, CMD, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC), has been appointed as Chairperson of Board of Governors of National Institute of Technology, Raipur, Chhattisgarh for a period of three years. Interestingly, the Institute is an Alma Mater of Vasudeva.

Syiemlieh takes oath as Member, UPSC today (UPDATED)
Prof. David R. Syiemlieh, former Vice Chancellor, Rajiv Gandhi University, Doikukh, Arunachal Pradesh has taken oath as Member, UPSC on June 25, 2012. Prof. Syiemlieh had also served as Lecturer at St. Edmund's College, Shillong and Department of History, NEHU and as a Reader and then Professor of History, NEHU.

CORPORATE

Bakshi is now seniormost ED in BoB
After the appointment of two new Executive Directors -Sudhir Kumar Jain and P. Srinivas, R K Bakshi is now the senior most ED in the Bank of Baroda. Prior to their elevation as ED, Jain was a General Manager in Dena Bank and Srinivas was a General Manager in Andhra Bank.

Three new GMs in SBT

Kesav Kumar T, Chandrasekhara Sarma A and K N Murali, have taken over as General Managers of the State Bank of Travancore.

Shrivastav ceases to be Director of National Aluminum Company
S K Shrivastav ceases to be Director of National Aluminum Company.

Dinesh Sarma is Vice Chairman of Tea Board
Dinesh Sarma has been elected as vice-chairman of the Tea Board of India (TBI). He is going to succeed C N Natraj. It may be stated that Dinesh Sarma is vice-president of the All Assam Small Tea Growers' Association (AASTGA).

Tata Motors in search for new MD
Tata Motors is looking for successor to P M Telang who has retired as Managing Director (Indian Operations) recently.

Venkatrangan appointed ED, The Paper Products Ltd
The Paper Products Limited has appointed A. Venkatrangan as Executive Director of the company w.e.f. July 1, 2012.

Srikanth appointed CEO (Pvt Health Mgmt Busi.), Motilal Oswal Fin. Services Ltd
Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd has appointed A. V. Srikanth as the Chief Executive Officer (Private Wealth Management Business).

Bharadwaj appointed MD, Carlyle Asia Partners
The Carlyle Group has appointed Neeraj Bharadwaj as Managing Director of Carlyle Asia Partners (CAP).

Santhanam appointed COO (Tamil Nadu Circle), MTS
MTS has appointed Aravind Santhanam as the Chief Operating Officer (Tamil Nadu circle).

Nicholas appointed Director (Rooms), The Westin Gurgaon, New Delhi
Mark Nicholas has been appointed as Director (Rooms), The Westin Gurgaon, New Delhi.

Sodhi appointed MD (India), Go Daddy
Go Daddy has appointed Rajiv Sodhi as Managing Director, India.

Maheshwary appointed Business Head (Mobile Phone Division), LG Electronics
LG Electronics has appointed Sanjay Maheshwary as the Business Head (Mobile Phone Division).

Gopalakrishnan appointed Head (Server Businesses), AMD
The Advanced Mirco Devices (AMD) has appointed Suresh Gopalakrishnan as Head (Server Businesses).

Mishra appointed President, Initiative Media
Manas Mishra has been appointed as President of Initiative Media.

Rajeev appointed CEO of Natco Pharma
N. Rajeev has been appointed as CEO of Natco Pharma.

Two appointed Sales Director of Sonata Software
Francis Thomas and Pradeep Reddy have been appointed as Sales Director of Sonata Software.

Bhat appointed Director of Tata Beverages
Haresh Bhat has been appointed as director of Tata Beverages.

Right conclusions based on faux arguments

It is difficult to reduce a hard politico-economic decision to the emotional spiel in this post. Gupta has the right conclusions but unfortunately based on faux arguments. It is not a question of farmers wearing shoes or politicians owning 1000 hectares. It is just that the perceived benefits of FDI in multi-brand retail are incorrectly estimated and can also be achieved using appropriate domestic policies. So while we may commend Gupta for arriving at the right suggestion he has used emotional arguments not backed by hard facts.

Madhukar

RIT

Reconstruction of the missing file under RTI

Information regarding permanent absorption of an Indian Forest Officer (IFO) as M (Environment) in National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), such as certified copy of the office order, minutes of the screening committee that scrutinized his candidature, the minutes of the meeting of the selection committee, noting of the Competent Authority approving his permanent absorption, copy of NOC issued by his parent department and the copy of the RRs for the post of GM (Environment) against which his candidature was scrutinized by screening committee was sought. The Public Information Officer (PIO) informed the appellant that the file pertaining to absorption of the said person was not traceable and hence the information cannot be provided. The Central Information Commission (CIC) observed that it was unfortunate that such an important file was missing. Holding that the citizen's Right to Information cannot be defeated by claiming that the concerned file containing the information was not traceable, the Commission directed the PIO to reconstruct the file by taking feedback from the concerned ministries and provide complete information to the appellant.

Comments

It is often claimed by the public authority that the records are untraceable and hence cannot be provided. This order opens up the possibility of the re-creation of the records for providing to the applicant.

Citation: D.P. Majhi v. National Highways Authority of India in Case No. CIC/SS/A/2012/000172

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)