Shady exit
Eyebrows are being raised at the home ministry’s reported decision to repatriate Loknath Behra, inspector general in the National Investigating Agency to his parent cadre, Kerala, just when the officer is in the midst of the crucial interrogation of Indian Mujahideen founder Yasin Bhatkal who was nabbed recently. In the fraught political climate that prevails today, the removal of a key senior officer from an important investigation is obviously going to raise awkward questions.
Interestingly, the director-general of NIA, Sharad Kumar, claims he has not received any news of this development. But sources say that home minister Sushilkumar Shinde reportedly approved Mr Behra’s repatriation following “complaints” from other investigation agencies about the officer’s supposed “indiscretions”. One can only hope this is not yet another move that will backfire on the government.

Hanging around
Giving extensions or re-employing retiring babus has been one of the hallmarks of the United Progressive Alliance regime. While the “loyalists” are understandably happy to stick around, the practice causes much heartburn in babu circles, especially among those who are eligible and are angling for senior positions. This situation has raised its head at the ministry of external affairs these days, after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reportedly allowed extension to at least six senior Indian Foreign Service officers.
Among the beneficiaries of the PMO’s decision are
S. Jaishankar, Indian ambassador to China, who will now move to Washington DC in the same role; Ranjan Mathai, former foreign secretary who is likely to move as high commissioner to the UK; Ashok Kantha, currently secretary (east) who is due to retire in 2015 but has been given a year’s extension; P.S. Raghavan, additional secretary, who was to retire in 2015 but is being sent as ambassador to Russia for a two-year term. Naturally other IFS officers are peeved, since some of them are being denied ambassadorship in top diplomatic missions. But keeping a stiff upper lip is probably the best they can do at the moment.

A tough call
The selection for a chief secretary of a state is usually a careful exercise, since the top babu has to enjoy the complete confidence of the chief minister. But sometimes the activity becomes particularly taxing, as Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah has learnt. The current chief secretary, S.V. Ranganath, is on the verge of retiring, and most people expected 1979-batch Indian Administrative Service officer L.V. Nagarajan to succeed him. But surprisingly, Mr Nagarajan, who is chairman of the Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development Corporation, opted out of the race for “personal reasons”. While this has thrown open the race to other babus, Mr Nagarajan’s decision has made the going more difficult for Mr Siddaramaiah. Sources say that some of those who are eligible for the top post are not keen on the post. Also, it is being said that Mr Siddaramaiah wants to consider only those babus who are not seen to be close to the previous Bharatiya Janata Party government, which, of course, many of those eligible anyway are not.