Dilli ka babu
A tale of two babus
Babudom in Haryana is abuzz with talk of the state government’s plan to appoint a tainted babu as chief engineer of the Haryana State Agricultural Marketing Board. According to sources, the state government has sought legal opinion on promoting superintending engineer R.D. Pundir, who has reportedly faced 34 chargesheets and three vigilance inquiries during his career. He is also under the high court’s scanner.
In his defence, Mr Pundir claims that he has been absolved of all charges of financial irregularities and has no inquiry pending against him. Though on the face of it, the issue seems purely technical — Mr Pundir is already acting chief engineer of the board after the retirement of A.K. Gupta — clearly the question mark over his eligibility is bothering the Hooda government.
But there is another instance, babu-watchers say, which shows the state government in less flattering light. Apparently, a state forest service official Sanjiv Chaturvedi has been hounded for years for blowing the whistle on a multicrore scam in the state.
According to sources, as a “reward” the whistleblower has been transferred 12 times in five years, been suspended, denied promotion and served with a fabricated chargesheet. It’s only now that a two-member committee, at the behest of the Cabinet secretary, has recommended action against those who were involved in victimising the honest babu.
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Budget buzz
Away from the bedlam caused by the various scams, which locked out an entire session of Parliament, babus at the finance ministry have been busy, quietly drafting the Union Budget for 2011-12. Clearly it’s not the right time to start the search for a new finance secretary, but this is what the government is doing. The necessity has arisen because finance secretary Ashok Chawla is retiring in January and, according to sources, has not been given an extension.
While the search goes on, the buzz is that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has already indicated a preference for commerce secretary Rahul Khullar, a 1975-batch Uttarakhand cadre officer, as Mr Chawla’s successor. That explains, sources say, why Mr Khullar too has been involved in the Budget preparation exercise. Veteran observers note that Mr Khullar worked previously with Dr Singh, when he was finance minister in the 1990s, as his personal secretary, and enjoys the Prime Minister’s trust. As for Mr Chawla, while many expect he will be accommodated suitably after retirement, speculation is rife on why Mr Chawla was denied an extension. After all, the United Progressive Alliance government has given extensions to many senior babus, most recently in the case of the Cabinet secretary and the foreign secretary. Is it that Mr Chawla fell out of favour? You decide. Watch this space for updates.
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