Sheila’s men
The Delhi government has long chafed under the strong-arm tactics of the Centre, which holds most of the strings, including the power to transfer bureaucrats. Most recently, the Union home ministry’s decision to transfer four babus holding key portfolios got chief minister Sheila Dikshit riled. According to sources, Ms Dikshit had no
inkling about the transfer of, among others, senior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers — Ramesh Negi, K.K. Sharma, R.K. Verma and J. Srivastava. She claimed it was “arbitrary” and came as a “bolt from the blue”. But after talks with home minister P. Chidambaram, it does appear that the chief minister has prevailed upon him to let her retain the babus.
For now, sources say, transfer orders of Mr Negi, Mr Verma and industries commissioner Chetan Saghi have been revoked. Further, even the other transferred babus will not move until after the state Budget is presented next month. These babus were working closely with the chief minister in preparation of the Delhi Budget and were also managing key developmental projects of the Dikshit government. Their sudden transfer, observers say, has thrown things in disarray.
Still, all agree that the underlying cause of friction between the Centre and the Delhi government continues to simmer. Personal interventions like Ms Dikshit’s apart, the Centre is unlikely to agree to “consult” the state government before effecting transfers of babus.
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Time to build?
The uncertainty of the future of Union Territory Chandigarh advisor Pradip Mehra finally ended with the Union home ministry recalling the controversial IAS officer to New Delhi. Mr Mehra, as this column has reported earlier, is known mainly for his famous run-ins with Union Territory administrator General (Retd) S.F. Rodrigues, since the beginning of his tenure in September 2007 over various issues. The biggest row between the two officials was over Mr Mehra’s objection to the reserved price fixed for a land development project.
Not surprisingly, Mr Mehra spent most of the rest of his stint in Chandigarh fending off facing various allegations and inquiries against him as well as experiencing the ignominy of having his powers to write annual confidential reports of his juniors withdrawn. However, sources say, he was later given a clean chit.
Sources say, Mr Mehra’s replacement K.K. Sharma, a 1983-batch IAS officer of the Union Territory cadre, has a considerable task on his hands, not the least of which would be to repair the damage done to the Union Territory advisor’s office thanks to the Mehra-Rodrigues battles. Hopefully, Mr Sharma’s tenure will see more development and less acrimony. Any guesses?
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