The Hindu : National : Chaturvedi for raising morale of officers

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jun 12, 2004

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National

Chaturvedi for raising morale of officers

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JUNE 11. B.K.Chaturvedi will be the next Cabinet Secretary, the senior most bureaucratic job in the country. Mr. Chaturvedi is now secretary in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and he assumes charge on Monday, June 14, and will be Cabinet Secretary for two years.

The incumbent Cabinet Secretary, Kamal Pande, was summoned today by the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, and was told rather abruptly that his services as Cabinet Secretary were no longer needed. Mr. Chaturvedi was at hand for the formal photograph.

Mr. Pande was promised a two-year tenure which would have ended on October 31, 2004. However, he has been made Secretary to the Inter-State Council, a position that carries the rank of Cabinet Secretary. Mr. Chaturvedi belongs to the 1966 batch of Uttar Pradesh cadre of the Indian Administrative Service, and has held important assignments in various Ministries. He has the reputation of being a "reformer." The Cabinet Secretary-designate is keen on raising the morale and prestige of the IAS. He told reporters that his "biggest challenge is that in the given structure today, question marks are being raised on the values, fairness, impartiality and integrity of civil servants."

The change of guard is being described as the beginning of a large-scale reshuffle of the secretary-level bureaucracy.

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