Dilli Ka Babu
Sheila prevails
Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit is touchy about the subject of babu transfers, especially those she has worked closely with. Early this year, she fought hard to retain her favourite babus who had been transferred under orders from the Union home ministry when it was headed by P. Chidambaram. She won in a few cases, but ultimately the Centre prevailed.
But Ms Dikshit seems to have regained her clout after the change of guard at the home ministry. The new home minister, Sushil Kumar Shinde, had recently ordered the transfer of Deepak Mohan Spolia as the new chief secretary of Arunachal Pradesh, though home secretary R.K. Singh is believed to have opposed it. Ms Dikshit too was reluctant to part with the babu, who has been serving the Delhi government as principal secretary for the last eight years. After “consultations”, sources say, Mr Spolia will now continue to work with the Delhi government. No doubt, Ms Dikshit prevailed over Mr Shinde and made him withdraw the order.
***
Cop vs COP
Battles in Uttar Pradesh, whether political or bureaucratic, are usually no holds barred affairs. Recently a middle-rung police officer V.K. Sharma accused the state director general of police (DGP) A.C. Sharma of accepting bribes for issuing transfer orders, sending shockwaves through the state’s babudom.
District superintendent of police V.K. Sharma claimed that he had to pay a heavy price for refusing such bribes by being constantly transferred to remote areas. He also alleged that he hadn’t been paid his salary for three months. Some observers see in this ugly spat the old rivalry between provincial police officers and the IPS. While DSP Sharma has been suspended for insubordination, observers wonder whether chief minister Akhilesh Yadav will order an inquiry into the rather serious charges levelled against his police chief by another officer?
***
Cracking the whip
The Congress-NCP coalition government in Maharashtra is clearly not having a smooth run due to internal dissension. The outbreak of several scams and allegations of misgovernance have only made the going tougher for chief minister Prithviraj Chavan. To make matters worse, recently he had to suffer embarrassment for not knowing his facts at a press conference on a food supply contract when these were apparently available online for the public.
While principal secretary Ujjwal Uke and state chief secretary Jayant Kumar Banthia were in the immediate line of fire after the fiasco, it seems that Mr Chavan has ordered all officers to work in a time-bound manner. Sources say that Mr Banthia has directed all department secretaries to bring proposals before the state Cabinet once they have been cleared by Mr Chavan for the final nod within seven days. Stung by reports of delays in decision-making, Mr Chavan has decided to crack the whip on babus.
Post new comment