Dilli Ka Babu
The position of member of the National Human Rights Commission has been vacant since June this year after the retirement of P.C. Sharma. But suddenly babudom is abuzz with murmurs that the just retired CBI director A.P. Singh is likely to be appointed to the post. However, observers say that Mr Singh is not the only contender. So far the government has trimmed the list of original 23 contenders down to seven. The final choice will be known once the Union home ministry has processed the shortlist.
While Mr Singh’s name is being mentioned, sources say that former home secretary Madhukar Gupta, former Delhi police commissioner B.K. Gupta, former land resources secretary Anita Chaudhary, former NHRC secretary general Rajiv Sharma and special director in CBI Vineet Gupta have strong chances.
It remains to be seen who the appointment committee decides to go for. The BJP may show some resistance regarding the appointment of
Mr Gupta since he has been associated with the NHRC in the past. Another contender who may have thin chances is former Delhi police commissioner B.K. Gupta since the Baba Ramdev controversy where women and children were lathicharged happened under his administration.
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Blurring the lines
Often it is bureaucrats themselves who get so tangled in their rules and systems that they forget some necessary distinctions, especially when it comes to hierarchy. Apparently, police officers in Bihar were taken aback when Prashant Nikam, a senior IAS officer from the Union home ministry, addressed the director general of police, Abhayanand, as commissioner. Clearly the babu forgot that Bihar does not have the commissionerate system.
Unfortunately for Mr Nikam, he had marked his letter also to state chief secretary Ashok Sinha and home secretary Amir Subhani. Rather than dismiss it as a trifling oversight on the part of the babu, the Bihar government has reportedly taken up issue with the Centre.
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Ray of hope?
Shortage of babus to head large public sector undertakings is very real. Why else would the government have C.S. Verma, chairman of the Steel Authority of India, also head the National Mineral Development Corporation? Votaries of the private sector never tire of arguing that the government needs to open its doors to private sector honchos. And now it seems there is a sliver of hope.
The government has decided to allow private sector CEOs to apply for the post of member, Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB), the organisation that selects the top management at PSUs. So far this position has been the domain of the IAS. Observers say that this is just the first step towards opening up top PSU positions for applicants from the private sector. But the question is whether private sector honchos are actually interested in sarkari naukri?
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