Dilli ka babu

Common goal
Cabinet Secretary K.M. Chandrasekhar’s unprecedented one year extension put paid to the hopes of two batches of aspirants for the post. But it is an indication of the high comfort level Mr Chandrasekhar enjoys with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that a tweak in the rules ensured the Cabinet secretary remains in saddle until June next year.
Sources say, the debate has now shifted to 2011 with murmurs about Pulok Chatterji, a 1974 batch Indian Administrative Service officer presently executive director to the World Bank, being a politically favoured frontrunner. According to some observers, the second extension to Mr Chandrasekhar is only to ensure that Mr Chatterji could potentially succeed him when he returns from his World Bank assignment. But that may be looking too far into the future. For now, Mr Chandrasekhar is and remains the nation’s top babu — and only a thoroughly botched up Commonwealth Games could derail him.

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Appraising babus
After babus heaved a sigh of relief with a Central Administrative Tribunal order stating that babus could actually content their annual confidential reports if they believed that their evaluation was unjust, the Prime Minister’s Office has asked the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) to then conduct an audit of the district entrusted to a babu. Thus, the annual confidential report (ACR) could now be evaluated on the basis of a babu’s progress in developing a district and implementing developmental programmes funded by the Centre.
CAG Vinod Rai has already said that overall performance of a babu in district will now be a major contributor to his ACR. It just does not stop there. A babu’s reaction to the CAG’s observation and audit will also be noted. The CAG will also be making a briefing of the review to the chief secretary.
With more organisations getting involved in the appraisal system, babus had better watch out!

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Sailing on
Steel Authority of India (SAIL) finally has a new chairman, C.S. Verma, formerly finance director, Bhel (Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd), to replace S.K. Roongta who retired last month. But, reliable sources say, Mr Verma’s appointment didn’t quite come easy. Apparently, officials at the steel ministry had been plugging for a career bureaucrat, but Mr Verma finally prevailed.
In the meantime SAIL has also tied up with Korean steel giant Posco to build a steel plant in Jharkhand. Interestingly, steel secretary Atul Chaturvedi had been rather publicly keen for the tie-up with Posco to actually fructify before Mr Roongta stepped down. Apparently, he believes that only Mr Roongta could swing the deal.
Curiously, speculation about Mr Roongta’s immediate future has now been laid to rest. He was angling for the plum post of managing director and chief executive officer of Petronet LNG, but lost out to ONGC’s (Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited) director (HR) A.K. Balyan. So SAIL gets to coast along free and on its own new course.