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Its anniversary time for UPA -2
On the third anniversary of UPA -2 the first family's magic seems to be on the wane as also the dumb luck that got UPA 2 to power. The political economy is also sinking the present government faster that it can think. The top three Dr.Manmohan Singh, Pranab Mukerjee, and P Chidambaram only have the world problems to blame for all the miseries in the economy like huge fiscal deficit and unusually high inflation. UPA 2 still is convinced that reckless spending on social schemes will be good enough to come back to power with Rahul Gandhi as the PM. Dream on UPA its your anniversary today !

What a change in Myawati?
Media is amazed over the change in BSP Supremo Mayawati. During her Press Meet in Delhi she invited questions from the journalists. Earlier it was never done.

Fierce political battle likely in Madhya Pradesh
A fierce political battle is in the offing in the heartland of the country, Madhya Pradesh. Samajwadi Party has decided to put up Candidates in 30 Vidhan Sabha constituencies while the BSP has already planned to put up candidates in 50 constituencies. Congress and the BJP have already started political preparations.

Secretary level and other changes by May end
With the Parliament session to conclude on May 22, 2012 major bureaucratic changes are expected to take place in the Government of India (GoI) by May end.

125 IPS officers of 1993 to 1998 batches empanelled as DIG in GoI
As many as 125 IPS officers of various cadres and batches between 1993 and 1998 have been empanelled as DIG and equivalent level posts under the Government of India. Accordingly, D P Verma 1993 batch officer of AGMU cadre while Jose George 1993 batch officer of Kerala cadre and Anil Kumar and Sat Parkash 1994 batch officer of Haryana cadre have been empanelled as DIG. Similarly, Kamal Kumar Saini 1994 batch of Jammu & Kashmir cadre; Lakhan Lal Ahirwar (1994) of MP; S Raveendran (1995), Bihar; S S Trivedi (1995), Gujarat; L C Bhartiya (1995), MP; V Naveen Chand (1996), Andhra Pradesh; Sunil Kumar, Anil Kishore Yadav, Kamal Kishore Singh (1996), Bihar; R K Bhendiya (1996), CH; B K Shrimali (1996), Gujarat; P K Mathur, V K Suryanshi, R K Shivhare, R K Chaudhary (1996), MP; Partha Sarathi Ghosh (1996), West Bengal; Sanjay Singh (1997), Bihar; Johny William (1997), Jammu and Kashmir; Raghubir Lal, Bhajani Rama Meena, Neelesh Kumar (1997), Uttar Pradesh; Abdur Rahman, (1997), Maharashtra; Vijay Kumar Singh and Vishal Bansal (1997), Rajasthan; Gajendra Kumar Goswamy (1997), Uttar Pradesh; Supratim Sarkar, R Rajasekaran Rahul Srivastava, Rajesh Subarno (1997), West Bengal; Narendra Singh Bundela, K Jegadosan, Mayank Sheel Chohan, Ashok Chand, A K Ojha, V V Chaudhary (1997), AGMU; Anurag Agrawal and Surendra Kumar (1998), Assam-Meghalaya; Mahesh Chandra Laddha, Vikram Singh Mann, B Srinivasulu, P Umapathi, E Damodhar, B Bala Krishna, B Malla Reddy, Abraham Lincoln, S Sunder Kumar Das, T Yoganand, K Venkateshwara Rao, T Murali Krishna, M Siva Prasad, A Ravichandra (1998) of Andhra Pradesh; Amrit Raj, Mrs. Kassey Suhita Anupam, Malothu Ramulu Naik (1998), Bihar; Amit Kumar (1998), CH; Patel Piyush Purusottam Das, Amit Kumar, Vishwakarma, Rajiv Ranjan Bhagat, Dahyabhai Ramabhai Patel, S M Katara (1998), Gujarat; M Chandra Shekhar, Dinesh Kumar Yadav (1998), Himachal Pradesh; Vikas Kumar Arora, Saurabh Singh and Hardeep Singh Doon (1998), Haryana; Parminder Singh, Showkat Ahmed Malik, Abdul Hamid (1998), Jammu and Kashmir; Thummala Vikram, Dinendra Kashyap, Gopesh Aggarwal, H Venkatesh and Ashok Yadav (1998),Kerala cadre; Pankaj Kumar Thakur, Soumendu Mukherjee, S Ravi, Manish Kharbikar, Ravindra Prasad, B Shivakumar (1998) of Karnataka cadre; Santosh Rastogi, Rajesh Kumar, Krishna Prakash, Rajkumar Maruti Vhatkar (1998), Maharashtra cadre; Vivek Sharma, Sajid Farid Shapoo, nshuman Yadav (1998) of Madhya Pradesh cadre; Arvinder Singh, Rajesh Shrihari Kamble, S Ibocha Singh, Laxmi Prasad (1998), Manipur-Tripura cadre; Amitav Thakur, S S Dev Dutta Singh Dayal Gangwar, N B Bharati, Ravi Kanta (1998), Orissa; Vijay Pratap Singh Kunwar, Nilabh Kishore and Shive Kumar Verma (1998), Punjab cadre; Alok Kumar Vashistha, Bipin Kumar Pandey, Ponugunatla Ramjee, Sarvar Khan (1998), Rajasthan; Mrs. Vidya D Kulkarni, Avi Prakash, R Dhinakaran, A Arun, C Chandrasekhar, C Easwaramurthy, M T Ganeshmoorthy, N Arivuselvam and K Shaanmugavel (1998), Tamil Nadu; Ajay Prakash Anshuman (1998), Uttarakhand cadre; Bhagwan Swaroop Srivastava, Piyush Mordia, Amit Chandra, Suvendrea Kumar Bhagat (1998), Uttar Pradesh; Ashok Kumar Prasad, Laxmi Narayan Meena, Anand Kumar, Hari Kishore Kushumaker and Manoj Kumar Verma (1998) of West Bengal cadre have been empanelled as the same.

12 IPS officers of various cadres retiring in May
As many as 12 officers of Indian Police Service (IPS) belonging to various batches and cadres are retiring in May, 2012. The officers include: Donkupar Rapthap of Assam-Meghalaya cadre while Mohd Shahrukh Majeed and Sunil Kumar Sinha of Bihar cadre and S M Shaikh of Gujarat cadre. Similarly, Kuldeep Khoda and Zahoor Hussain Chisti of Jammu and Kashmir cadre; P S Natrajan of Jharkhand; P G
Ashok Kumar of Kerala cadre; A B Mathur of Manipur-Tripura cadre; Hariram Meena of Rajasthan; S S Krishnamurthy of Tamil Nadu cadre.

Deepak Kumar is new JS Food in GoI
Deepak Kumar has been appointed Joint Secretary Department of Food & Public Distribution in the Government of India . He is 1990 batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh

Anil Sant to be Joint Secretary for NDC
As the grapevine has it Anil Sant is poised to be a Joint Secretary for the National Defence College(NDC).He was Secretary to ex Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh
Ms. Mayawati while the latter was UP's CM.He is an IAS officer of 1988 batch who belongs to the Uttar Pradesh cadre.

D P Reddy to return to Punjab
Joint Secretary I & B in the Government of India D P Reddy is returning to the parent Punjab cadre next month. He is 1988 batch IAS officer.

Praveen Kumar to be a Director, Defence
As the grapevine has it Praveen Kumar on central deputation is to be a Director, Defence. He is an IOFS officer of 1992 batch.

Khatua appointed Ambassador to Argentina
Amarendra Khatua, presently Additional Secretary at Headquarters has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to the Argentina Republic.

Shakti Sinha is back to Delhi as PS Power
Shakti Sinha has joined the Delhi Government as Principal Secretary Power with additional charge of Principal Secretary GAD. 1979 batch IAS officer of UT cadre Sinha was Chief Secretary Andaman & Nicobar Islands prior to his new posting.

Upma Srivastava posted as CVO
Ms. Upma Srivastava, an IAS Officer of 1988 batch of Sikkim Cadre has been posted as Chief Vigilance Office of Airport Authority of India. She was till recently Joint Secretary, DOPT.

One vacancy of JS in Water Resources
There is going to be one vacancy of Joint Secretary in the Department of Water Resources in the Government of India next month.

Sunil Verma to be Member Settlement Commission?
Grapevine has it that Sunil Verma is being appointed Member of the Income Tax Settlement Commission. He is 1978 batch IRS officer.

Kunal Kumar to go abroad for 1 yr course
Kunal Kumar is poised to go on a one year course on Masters in Public Policy. He will be in Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, Singapore and for rest of the six months he will go to Harvard University.Presently, he is Collector Auraganbad. He is an IAS officer of 1999 batch who belongs to the Maharashtra cadre.

V Lalthakima transferred to Delhi
V Lalthakima, DIGP (TRG), Mizoram has been transferred to New Delhi. He is AGMU cadre IPS officer of 1998 batch.

Rules for post of Secretary in AERA yet to be finalised
Rules for the filling up the post of Secretary in the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) are yet to be finalised.

70 positions of IAS officers vacant in M-T cadre
As many as 70 positions of IAS officers have been lying vacant in Manipur-Tripura cadre. There are 137 officers in the position against strength of 207 IAS officers in the cadre.

IA & AS officer Basu posted as PAG (A&E), Assam
Shantanu Basu, OSD, COFMOW, New Delhi, has been transferred and posted as Principal Accountant General (PAG) (A&E), Assam, Guwahati under the Comptroller & Auditor General of India.

Majar Gen Rajan Bakshi to be Lt Gen in Indian Army
Major General Rajan Bakshi has reportedly been cleared for promotion to the rank of Lt General in the Indian Army.

Bhan to go on deputation to Central University Srinagar
Services of SL Bhan, Deputy Accountant General (A&E), O/o Accountant are placed at the disposal of the Central University of Kashmir, Srinagar for appointment to the post of Internal Audit Officer on deputation basis.

Ms Yadav to join GoI?
Ms Yashasavi Yadav is likely to be join Government of India as Superintendent of Police (SP). She is an IPS officer of 2000 batch, who belongs to the Maharashtra cadre.

Das moves to Dhaka
Mridu Pawan Das looking after US (UNP) desk in the Ministry of External Affairs desk has been moved to Dhaka as First Secretary.

Tapesh Pawar is also CMD, Civil Supplies in Rajasthan
Tapesh Pawar, Principal Secretary, Food, Civil Supplies, has been assigned additional charge of CMD, Rajasthan State Food and Civil Supplies Corporation Limited. He is a 1983 IAS officer of this State cadre.

Annual Conference of CCs, DGs of IT at New Delhi from June 11
A 28th Annual Conference of Chief Commissioners and Directors General of Income Tax-2012 is being held from June 11 to 12, at New Delhi.

Vacancies in Competent Authority, SAFEM (FoP) A & NDPSA, New Delhi
The posts of Inspecting Officer, Private Secretary, Inspector Assistant & Stenographer Grade-III are vacant in the office of Competent Authority, SAFEM (FoP) A & NDPSA, New Delhi on deputation basis under the department of Revenue.

Two IFS officers shifted in MP
Two Indian Forest Service (IFS) officers have been given new postings in Madhya Pradesh. Accordingly, B K Mishra, Secretary, Forest, has been posted as Chief Conservator of Forests (CCF), NHDC, Khandwa while Padam Singh who is holding this post here will now be Chief Conservator of Forests (CCF), Research and Expansion, Jhabua.

Three new Information Commisioners in Goa
Educationist P R Nadkarni, IAS officer D C Sahoo and former DG Aids Control Society Dr Pradip Padwal have been shortlisted for Information Commissioner in Goa.

Pandey is new High Commissioner to New Zealand (UPDATED)
A. K. Pandey, presently Ambassador to Sudan has been appointed as the next High Commissioner of India to New Zealand.

OVL earns highest ever-revenue in 2011-12 (UPDATED)
ONGC Videsh Ltd. (OVL) wholly-owned subsidiary of Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) achieved the highest-ever total revenue of Rs. 22,637 crore, an increase of 21.2% during the year 2011-12 as compared to the previous year. Profit after tax (PAT) for the current year has increased only marginally by 1.1% from Rs. 2691 crore to Rs. 2721 crore due to certain abnormal provisioning. OVL is currently having participation in 30 projects in 15 countries, out of which 10 are producing projects. During the year, the company has acquired 25% participating interest (PI) in Satpayev Block, Kazakhstan and exploration activities have started in the block. The remaining 75% PI is held by KMG, the National Oil Company of Kazakhstan. A provision for Impairment of Rs. 1953 crore (US$ 408 Million) has been made in respect of subsidiary, Jarpeno Ltd. as the asset is performing lower as compared to the estimated and the 'value in use' computed for the asset as on March 31, 2012 was lower than its carrying value. The company currently has two projects under development namely Carabobo 1, in Venezuela, where first oil is expected in December 2012 and Blocks A1 & A3 in Myanmar, which are likely to commence production in May 2013. OVL continues to pursue its objective of acquiring oil and gas equity abroad for energy security of the country. Team ONGC Videsh is currently finalizing its long term plan as a part of ONGC Group's Perspective Plan 2030, which is expected to be announced shortly. Sudhir Vasudeva, Chairman, complemented Team ONGC Videsh for sustaining growth with a balanced portfolio of assets and envisioned to accelerate the acquisition of oil & gas properties overseas to supplement the domestic crude oil and natural gas production towards energy security of the country.

12 BHEL GMs promoted as EDs (UPDATED)
As many as 12 General Managers in BHEL have been promoted as Executive Directors, Accordingly, A.K. Dave has been promoted as ED, Jhansi, Anil Ahuja as ED (TBD,IPE & IPM), Atul Sobti as ED (PE&SD), C.K. Shrikhande as ED (PS-NR), K.C. Ramamurthy as ED (OSD - EDN), K.S. Mathur as ED (PS-WR), N.K. Bansal as ED (PS-TS), S. Gopinath as ED (Thirumayam & Piping Centre), S.C. Mittal as ED (Finance - Receivables Management), Sukul Lomash as ED (CSU & FP), U.N. Singh as ED (ISG) and Umesh Mathur as ED (TBG).

15 BHEL GMs redesignated as GM (I) (UPDATED)
As many as 15 General Managers in BHEL have been redesignated as GM(I). Accordingly A.K. Ghosh has been redesignated as GM Incharge, PS-SR, A.S. Nagaraja as GM Incharge (GT & Oil Rigs), Alok Mathur as GM Incharge (ARP), Arvind Gupta as GM Incharge (T&C Engg &Purchase,PEG), Ashok K. Gupta as GM Incharge (EM, T&D), D. Sankaran as GM Incharge (Finance), Harsh Kayastha as GM Incharge (Corporate Quality), M.K. Shakya as GM Incharge (Feeders), R. Kumar as GM Incharge (Engineering - FB), R.K. Handa as GM Incharge (IO), Rajiv Puri as GM Incharge, PS-PEM, Rakesh Mathur as GM Incharge (MSX), PS-HQ, S.R. Prasad as GM Incharge, ROD, V. Ravindran as GM Incharge (Finance) and V.K. Midha as GM Incharge (CPP & Renewables).

IRS officer Nimesh Baruah deputed as Director, SFIO (UPDATED)
Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer Nimesh Baruah has been appointed as Director (Joint Secretary level), Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs on deputation basis.

Transfers and postings in Railways (UPDATED)
A number of officers have been transferred posted at different places in Railways. Accordingly, Kartikey Singh, SS/IRTS of Western Railway, has been transferred to NF Railway while Kamlesh Kumar Mishra, SS/IRTS of Northern Railway, is being shifted to NF Railway and posted in the cadre and Ms. Shilpi Bishnoi, SS/IRTS of Northern Railway was transferred to NF Railway and posted in the cadre. Similarly, Ms. Madhusmita Patra, SS/IRTS of Northern Railway has been transferred to NF Railway; Anshoo Pandey, SS/IRTS of Northern Railway to NF Railway; Ms. Promila Gupta, SS/IRTS of Northern Railway to South Eastern Railway; Sunil Beniwal SS/IRTS of Northern Railway to East Coast Railway; Ms. S Sarah Jayal, SS/IRTS of Northern Railway to Eastern Railway; Ms. Jagriti Duggar, SS/IRTS of Western Railway to Eastern Railway; Ashutosh Srivastava, SS/IRTS of Central Railway to South East Central Railway; A S Upadhyay, SAG/IRTS, Presently Working as Executive Director, Traffic Transportation (F), Railway Board was posted as Edtt(M) /RB and M K Akhouri,SAG/IRTS, on return from deputation, has been posted as Executive Director, TT(F).

Justice Sirpurkar takes over as Chairman, CAT (UPDATED)
Justice V S Sirpurkar, a retired Judge of the Supreme Court of India, has assumed the charge as Chairman of the Competition Appellate Tribunal (CAT) of India.

Manoj Mishra selected as Director (Finance), STCIL (UPDATED)
Manoj Mishra, CGM, STCIL, has been selected for the post of Director (Finance), State Trading Corporation of India Limited (STCIL) at a Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) held on May 22, 2012. As many as eight persons were interviewed for the same.

CORPORATE

Rakesh Bahadur is also head of Greater Noida Development Authority
CEO of NOIDA Rakesh Bahadur has also been appointed head of the Greater Noida Development Authority and Yamuna Expressway Authority. He is 1979 batch IAS officer.

Vijay Paul retires
ED (North) Air India Vijay Paul has retired.

Indian Bengali is head in UK
Indian Bengali Suma Chakrabarti has been appointed president of the London-based European Bank for Reconstruction and Development for four years.

Special concessional air tickets through site of Air India
Air India is pleased to inform the following concessionary fares are now available through web also. For the convenience of customers in particular the Government employees we are giving following details sent to us by the Air India: Armed Forces discount, Recipient of Bravery Awards, LTC for Govt. employees, Para Military discount, Students' discount, War disabled personnel, discount for War Widows and youth Discount.

2 appointed as additional director of Shreeyas Industries
M. Phaneesh and V. Satishbabu have been appointed as additional director of Shreeyas.

2 resign as director of Shreeyas Industries
Ms.Meena Agarwal and Ms.Sumedha Saroagi have resigned as directors of Shreeyas Industries.

Afzalpurkar appointed as director of Talwalkar Better Value Fitness
Dinesh Afzalpurkar has been appointed as director of Talwalkar Better Value Fitness.

Garat resigns as director of Pfizer Ltd
Bomi M Garat has resigned as director of Pfizer Ltd.

Dholakia ceases to be director of Adani Ports and SEZ
Ravindra Dholakia ceased to be director of Adani Ports and SEZ.

3 appointed as additional director of Pfizer Ltd
Sunil Madhok, Uday Khanna and Vivek Dhariwal appointed as additional directors of Pfizer Ltd.

2 appointed as additional directors of Tata Steel
Cyrus Mistry and Ms.Mallika Sreenivasan have been appointed as additional director of Tata Steel.

Ms.Rangachari appointed as VP of Ericsson India
Ms.Swati Rangachari has been has been appointed as Vice President Corporate Communications and Corporate Affairs Ericsson India.

Dhanavel appointed as director of Tamilnadu Petroproducts
K Dhavnavel .Managing Director(MD) of the Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu Industrial Development(TIDCO)has been appointed as director of Tamil Nadu Petro products.Dhanavel is an IAS officer of the 1996 batch who belongs to the Tamil Nadu cadre.

Sarkhot appointed as additional director of Thana Electric Supply
V. Sarkhot has been appointed as additional director of Thana Electric Supply.

Hemmady resigns as MD of Thana Electric Supply
Suresh Hemmady has resigned as Managing Director of Thana Electric Supply.

Two additional directors appointed on Tata Steel Board
Tata Steel Limited has appointed Cyrus Pallonji Mistry, Deputy Chairman of Tata Sons Limited, Mumbai and Ms Mallika Srinivasan, Chairperson of Tractors & Farm Equipment Limited, Chennai, as additional directors of the company w.e.f. May 21, 2012.

Shenoy resigns as Company Secy. Merck Ltd
H. U. Shenoy, Company Secretary of Merck Ltd has resigned from the company w.e.f. May 11, 2012

Mansukhani appointed Whole-time Director, Merck Ltd
Ashok Mansukhani has been appointed as a Whole-Time Director of Hinduja Ventures Ltd w.e.f. April 30, 2012

Sathe resigns as Company Secy. Essar Securities Ltd
Girish Sathe has resigned as Company Secretary of Essar Securities Ltd.

Gupta appointed Addl. Director, Essar Securities Ltd
Neeraj Gupta has been appointed as Additional Director of Essar Securities Ltd.

Afzulpurkar appointed Independent Director, Talwalkars Better Value Fitness Ltd
Talwalkars Better Value Fitness Limited has appointed Dinesh Afzulpurkar as the Independent Director of the company.

Shah resigns as Non Exec. Independent Director, Kitply Industries Ltd
Mahesh Shah has resigned as Non Executive, Independent Director of Kitply Industries Ltd w.e.f. May 8, 2012.

Sharma appointed Addl. Director, Kitply Industries Ltd
Sushil Kumar Sharma has been appointed as an Additional Director of Kitply Industries Ltd w.e.f. May 16, 2012.

Chandra resigns as Non Exec. Director, IL & FS Transportation Networks Ltd
R S Chandra, Non-Executive Director, IL & FS Transportation Networks Ltd has resigned from the company w.e.f. May 18, 2012

Sen re-appointed MD International Combustion India Ltd
International Combustion India Ltd has re-appointed Indrajit Sen as the Managing Director of the company for a period of three years w.e.f. May 1, 2012.

Saha re-appointed ED , International Combustion India Ltd
Sanjoy Saha has been re-appointed as an Executive Director (Whole-time Director) of International Combustion India Ltd w.e.f. May 1, 2012

Kathariya resigns as Company Secy. Next Mediaworks Ltd
Ms. Aarti Kathariya has resigned as Company Secretary of Next Mediaworks Ltd .

Dholakia appointed Independent Director, Adani Enterprises Ltd
Dr. Ravindra Dholakia has ceased to be a Director of Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Limited w.e.f May 19, 2012 as he has joined the company as an Independent Director of Adani Enterprises Limited w.e.f. May 21, 2012

Gurusamy appointed Company Secy. Rajapalayam Mills Ltd
Rajapalayam Mills Limited has appointed V. Gurusamy as Company Secretary of the company .

Murthy appointed Addl. Director, Taj GVK Hotels & Resorts Ltd
Taj GVK Hotels & Resorts Limited has appointed G Krishna Murthy as an Additional Director of the company.

Nivedan Churiwal re-appointed ED, BSL Ltd
BSL Limited has re-appointed Nivedan Churiwal as Executive Director for a period of five years w.e.f. July 26, 2012.

A K Churiwal appointed CMD, BSL Ltd
A K Churiwal has been appointed as Chairman and Managing Director of BSL Ltd for a period of five years w.e.f. September 1, 2012.

Based on thirty five years of my experience in GOI, I have always felt cheated by the MOF's austerity drive carried out year after year. Action of Ministers and bureaucrats never fits into the government's sham focus on austerity. Take the case of our footloose Ministers, MPs and bureaucrats visiting abroad at the cost of taxpayers. The expenses according to a survey run into thousands of crores of INR. The foreign tours undertaken by the President of India and her kins and the Deputy Chairperson Planning Commission have already attracted adverse media publicity. Tours within and outside the country are manipulated in ministries for nothing . With the modern IT facilities including video conferencing, more than 70 percent government tours could be straightaway cancelled. Another area of government insensitivity and hypocrisy is the discretionary power given to ministries for making unfettered appointment of "Consultants". This is a scam where officers are rewarded , post retirement, for their loyalties. The consultants are taking over the regular functions with access to sensitive info and without any accountability. What happens to Pranab Da's commitment made in 2009 for restoring black money to the country. According to Director CBI ,the black money stashed abroad ,is estimated to be of the order of Rs 25 lakh crores. India will be able to feed its millions of hungry, malnourished people. At present, the obese Indian Government is doling out low calorie diet to the undefined BPL category. This is a fraud committed on Aam aadmi.

A K Saxena (A retired civil servant)

IAS officers more fit for sensitive public assignments

I disagree with Pt. Kanwar's comments that IAS officers should be barred from holding sensitive public assignments. There are no other group of citizens in this country as these officers are, who are more fit to hold such assignments. They start their carriers as SDOs and then Dy. Commissioners (Collectors) and have a better chance of understanding people's problems than anybody else. During their career they get exposed to higher level managements of industries, technical institutions, welfare schemes etc and by the time they reach senior levels have a total exposure which helps them to understand, analyse and solve problems. Sensitive posts require administrative ability and exposure which these officers have in abundance. That is why these
officers are successful in administering technical and scientific institutions. Do not forget that many of these officers are drawn from premier institutions like IIT.

N Krishnan

Introspection required :

Recent trend of Government to appoint the retired employees as Consultants on contract basis, needs some introspection of the trend. Instead the Government should raise the retirement age of the Government employees and resist themselves to appoint the retired employees on contract basis.

Kalyan

It's strange!

It is strange that, DOPT is posting IAS and IPS officers at the centre even at DS/director level when there is a large number of vacancies at each of the state. I wonder how IAS officer become a PS to Minister is functioning differently than non-IAS officers as PS. On their appointment to centre, they behave like a state agent and push the ideas of politicians rather than working in non-partisan manner. They mostly take rest when they are at central posting and then go back without accountability. Let DOPT utilise the services of central Group A officers and IAS/IPS improve the condition of their state first and then come to centre

Yadav

First Appellate Authority directed to undergo rigorous RTI training The Central Information Commission (CIC) had issued a show cause notice to the Public Information Officer (PIO) to explain the denial of information under section 2(f) of the RTI Act. The PIO submitted that he had recently joined as PIO and was not having the knowledge of the RTI Act at the time of the receipt of the RTI application. When the appeal was filed at that time, the First Appellate Authority (FAA) had endorsed the decision of the PIO. The CIC was not satisfied by the explanation furnished by the PIO and under section 20(1) of the RTI Act, directed the Public Authority to recover an amount of Rs. 25,000/- from the salary of the PIO at the rate of Rs. 5000/- per month as penalty. The Commission further noted that the FAA has also demonstrated his complete ignorance on the practical application of the RTI Act. The Senior Divisional Manager was directed by the Commission to assign the FAA to a rigorous period of training so that he can satisfactorily discharge his obligations as per the provisions of the Act.

Comments

It is unfortunate that many organisations are yet to train their officers in the basics of the RTI Act which is not only obstructing the flow of information but is also leading to unnecessary levy of penalty. This is the first case where training has been ordered by the CIC which reminds of RI ordered by courts. In case any public authority is interested, we can hold training sessions for the PIO and FAA.

Citation: Shri Rajpal v. LIC of India in File No. CIC/DS/A/2011/000501

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)