New Delhi, Feb 25: The caretaker Gujral Government is pushing through top appointments in bluechip central organisations like IPCL and the Airports Authority of India (AAI) disregarding norms, raising eyebrows in top echelons of bureaucracy.Even though the Delhi high court on Monday came down heavily upon the government for granting extensions to senior officers after retirement and asked for their service details, a file for further extension to IPCL chairman-cum-managing director KG Ramanathan is being pushed by the cabinet secretariat. It is learnt the file has already reached the prime minister's office for clearance.
Ramanathan was given a year's extension of service by the Deve Gowda government after he attained the age of superannuation last year. Now that he is about to complete the extended term, attempts are on to give him another extension.
What has irked the bureaucracy is that established institutional mechanism like the Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) has been totally ignored inthe process. Even a regular ACC (appointment committee of Cabinet) approval is not being procured for the purpose, it is alleged.
For example, the Cabinet Secretariat is reported to have sent Ramanathan's file directly to the Prime Minister bypassing the Home Minister who happened to be the only ex-officio member of the ACC , apart from the PM.
According to top sources, the file notings include "HM on tour" as justification for not sending the file to him for signature. This is unprecedented, officials say. It is an almost similar story in the case of D.V.Gupta of Central Electronics Ltd whose file is also pending in the Prime Minister's Office for clearance as Chairman of Airports Authority of India. Surprisingly, even an ongoing litigation on the AAI chairman's post has not deterred the Cabinet Secretariat from pushing the file for approval. Cement Corporation of India CMD Anand Durbari, it may be recalled, was placed as number one in the panel of names recommended by the PESB for the AAI post. Afterhe was ignored following delay in vigilence clearance, Durbari has gone to the High Court to seek justice. The case is still pending.
Gupta's name was proposed by Civil Aviation secretary C.L.Kaw. To begin with, it met with an opposition by both Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayanti Natarajan as also her senior C.M.Ibrahim. Despite this, sources said, the file moved in haste through the Cabinet secretariat and was currently with Prime Minister I.K.Gujral's OSD Ravi Kant Sharma, an IPS officer.
As in the case of Ramanathan, the Cabinet Secretariat chose to ignore the Home Minister in this case too, maintaining that the "HM was on tour". The question that is being raised in top bureaucratic circles is: who is pushing the two cases in utter disregard to established norms?
Copyright(c)1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
