The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Top IAS officers from State deprived of Central deputation

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Saturday, Dec 22, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Top IAS officers from State deprived of Central deputation

T.S. Ranganna

More than a dozen senior officers will not be empanelled by Centre

Officials feel the new regulation is discriminatory
They were not consulted; may move the court

BANGALORE: More than a dozen senior Indian Administrative Service officers of the rank of additional chief secretaries and principal secretaries serving in the State Government have been deprived for ever of working in the Ministries and agencies of the Centre because they will not be empanelled by the Union Department of Personnel and Training.

The reason: the rules of the department were retrospectively amended in November last year through which all IAS officers who did not have a minimum of three years experience in any Union Government department or agency were ineligible to be empanelled by it. A few of those who were deprived of the chance of going to the Centre are stated to be planning to move the court.

Sources said if the Centre has its way, the State will not have any officer in the Centre to lobby for it.

This will affect the flow of funds to various Centrally-assisted projects.

Even among secretaries on Central deputation, not many are posted to important Ministries as compared to those from the States which have political clout in New Delhi.

Any officer in the administrative, police or forest services has to be empanelled before being posted on Central deputation. The empanelment is a prolonged and tough process. The officers, who have been adjudged “very best”, “best” or “very good” by their superior officers in the State Government concerned have to pass through the rigorous system.

According to several officers who have been affected by the new rules, the new stipulation was discriminatory and had been brought about without giving notice to them.

The immediate casualty would be three additional chief secretaries Sudhakar Rao, Development Commissioner; Usha Ganesh, Department of Health and Family Welfare; and Vatsala Vatsa, Department of Home, who are from the 1973 batch of IAS and opted to serve in Karnataka.

They will not become secretaries in the Government of India because of the amendment. Similarly, at least 10 principal secretaries serving in Karnataka cannot serve at the Centre as additional secretaries.

They are R. Suresh in the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms; Shamim Banu, Department of Housing; C.S. Suranjana, Director-General, Administrative Training Institute; Subir Hari Singh, Commissioner, Bangalore Metropolitan Region Development Authority; Shobha Nambisan, Chairman and Managing Director, Karnataka State Industrial Investment Development Corporation; Meera Saxena, Chairperson and Managing Director, Mysore Sales International Ltd.; M.R. Srinivasa Murthy, Department of Finance; and K. Jairaj, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj. These officers belong to the 1976 batch of the IAS.

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