Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis is having a hard time with delays in implementation of orders by his state bureaucracy. Recently, he was publically critical about the poor performance of bureaucrats and threatened action against non-performing babus. Apparently, an internal survey disclosed that at least 30 per cent of the senior babus in the state are behind in the implementation of the government’s various initiatives. Following this, state chief secretary Swadheen Kshatriya also held a long meeting with senior babus to discuss ways to improve performance.
Mr Fadnavis is also facing another challenge from the bureaucrats. Many babus have been reportedly exploiting their political connections at the Centre to seek better postings, bypassing the established procedures of addressing their concerns to their immediate superior officer, or other high authority.
Sources say that senior babus and departmental secretaries have been directed to spend at least two days every week monitoring implementation of government schemes. The message is: perform or perish.
Crackdown continues This column had earlier reported that the Modi government is not willing to look the other way when Indian Administrative Service officers overstay on foreign assignments or otherwise remain on “unauthorised” leave for long periods of time. After announcing its intentions, the government has begun taking action against these errant babus. It had cracked the whip on Sanjeev Ahluwalia, who was “deemed to have resigned” for continuing on foreign service beyond the officially approved period. Another IAS officer Shishir Priyadarshi, too, was deemed to have resigned for being on unauthorised leave for nine years! The crackdown continues. Joining this “select” club now is 1997-batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre Rita Singh. Ms Singh has been on official leave since 2003, and she has been deemed as having resigned for being absent without authorisation with effect from May 2007. According to sources, a few more heads are expected to roll. Guess that pleases some and worries some.
Lost privilege Sanskriti School in Chanakyapuri is a prestigious elite school run by the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) Association primarily for children of Group A service officers. For years, it has clung to its founding principles despite attempts to “open” the school to children from other backgrounds. But where those efforts failed, now the Delhi high court has struck down the “quota” for children of bureaucrats in Sanskriti School. The court has asserted that since the school has been built on land owned by the state government, it will have to adhere to the “common school” system, and prioritise social justice and equality. Naturally the decision has made babus in the capital rather unhappy. The school will now have to admit more children from the general and economically weaker categories. Currently an overwhelming 60 per cent of the seats are reserved for the children of Group A officers. Though the babus argue that the school’s admission policy was “to help officers with transferable jobs”, this argument clearly did not cut much ice with the court.
