The reshuffle in bureaucratic posts has made one thing clear—bureaucrats under the Modi regime should be ready to explore new territories.
When the appointment committee of cabinet made seventeen new appointments at the secretary level on Wednesday, it was new pastures for many too soon.
"The latest appointments are only in lieu of the changes that were in the offing due to superannuation of some senior officers ," said a senior department of personnel and training (DoPT) official. The DoPT deals with transfers and postings of civil servants. The official, however, agreed that the fast pace of life have affected the bureaucrats as there is no scope for slowing down and settling for one post.
Among those who are going to take up new tasks are 1983 batch Maharashtra cadre officer Sanjeevanee Kutty, recently posted as secretary, border management, in the home ministry who will now take up the new task of secretary, department of ex-servicemen welfare, when the incumbent Prabhudayal Meena retires on July 31.
The border management division in the MHA is a classic example of changes—from the division itself being divided into two with two joint secretaries handling different borders to two secretaries.
"It was a department which had its own secretary and joint secretaries. Now, the government has created a new charge of additional secretary (BM) which wasn't there earlier. So the file moves from joint secretary to additional secretary and then the secretary if need be ," said an official in MHA. Additional secretary in MHA, Bipin Bihari Mallick, who was handling the critical foreigners division before Kutty, is now handling border management division as well as disaster management. The MHA will appoint a new secretary (border management) once Kutty moves out on July 31.
There was a time when senior officers spent years, occupying one post, completing their tenures without worrying about sudden changes. "While it meant status quo for them , it also gave the officers enough time to settle down in one division and work," said a bureaucrat who refused to be named. However, another bureaucrat pointed out that it is the prerogative of the government to post officers. "It is a decision entirely of the government. An officer cannot decide which department he wants to work with and how long," he said.
Former DoPT secretary A.N. Tiwari told THE WEEK that several variables are at play when the cabinet secretariat takes these decisions and regular performance audits are conducted which give a fair idea to the government about the core competencies of each officer .
"While an officer will get the domain knowledge only if he spends enough time in one division, there is also the chance that some can get lethargic if they spend too long in one post. So a little bit of alertness is required for higher productivity and utilizing the experience of officers when the transfers and postings are done," he said.
Tiwari maintained that having said that, what various administrative reforms commissions have said is that a two-year period should at least be given to officers in each posting at senior levels. That is something which is being followed informally, he pointed out. "Cadre management is all about finding the suitable job for the civil servant," he summed up.
However, under the new regime, it still means constant change. Among the other changes effected on Wednesday were appointment of 1982 batch IAS officer Ajay Mittal as secretary DoPT. N.K. Sinha got transferred from the ministry of culture to take charge as secretary in the ministry of information and broadcasting, replacing Mittal . The other appointments were Kerala cadre senior officer Aruna Sundararajan, who was serving as secretary in ministry of electronics & information technology, now being given charge of secretary in department of telecommunications.
