A bigger role

IRS babus will predictably hold key positions in the Goods and Services Tax council secretariat which is being set up. These and officers of the Central Board of Excise and Customs will play a greater role in GST implementation than IAS officers. This assurance has been given by finance minister Arun Jaitley to a delegation of IRS Officers Association. Despite the general enthusiasm surrounding GST, the IRS association had earlier opposed the formation of the GST council secretariat since it was to be filled with IAS officers. The Union Cabinet had on September 12, approved appointment of the secretary (revenue) as the ex-officio secretary to the GST council and inclusion of the chairperson, CBEC, as a permanent invitee. Revenue secretary is usually an IAS officer.

The Cabinet had also approved creation of one post of additional secretary and four posts of commissioner in the secretariat. The council will decide on the tax rate, exempted goods and the threshold. The association had demanded that the secretary to the council be member (GST) in the CBEC.

Though the minister did not spell out how exactly the government would accommodate this demand, the delegation appears to have been satisfied with his response, for now. But a fresh round of appointment and promotions and some new announcements are still awaited in the next fortnight.

Shuffling the pack The BJP government in Haryana may have chosen to overlook several recommendations of the Prakash Singh Committee following the caste riots in the state earlier this year, but it takes the feedback of its own partymen, ministers, MLAs and advisers seriously. In what’s probably the biggest reshuffle of his tenure, CM Manohar Khattar has shifted 26 IAS officers with immediate effect.

The reshuffle covered top bosses of key departments, including power, town and country planning, health, finance, excise and taxation, food and civil supplies and labour. And, sources say, that rumours of the reshuffle began when the government held a series of feedback sessions with MLAs and advisors. Among the babus affected are additional secretary for power R.K. Gupta, principal secretary for excise Anurag Rastogi, additional chief secretary for food and supplies Shyam Sundar Prasad, and additional chief secretary for finance Sanjeev Kaushal, among others.

The state government has overlooked the minimum tenure policy by transferring several officers much before completion of the two-year tenure. Health, for instance, has had four additional chief secretaries in the past two years. Meanwhile, there is still no word on whether the government will take action against the police officers indicted by the Prakash Singh panel for dereliction of duty during the riots.

An early start The government has begun the search for a successor to U.K. Sinha, chairman of the Sebi, whose tenure will end in February next year.

Mr Sinha’s will have had amongst the longest stints as Sebi chief, having been appointed for three years in 2011 then granted a two-year extension and another year’s this last February because the government could not finalise anyone from the shortlist then.

Sources say that the successor to the 1976-batch Bihar cadre IAS officer will be named on the recommendation of the Financial Sector Regulatory Appointments Search Committee headed by Cabinet Secretary P.K. Sinha. Though the government has invited applications for the post, apparently the search panel can recommend any other person who it thinks has the requisite merit.

Last time former Forward Markets Commission chairman Ramesh Abhishek, SBI chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya and Thomas Mathew, additional secretary at Rashtrapati Bhavan were frontrunners for the post of Sebi chairman. This time too, the applicants are likely to be equally illustrious though Ms Bhattacharya want figure certainly since she’s likely to snag an extension too.