The sudden transfer of personal secretaries of half a dozen senior bureaucrats in the Secretariat last week created a stir in official circles.
They were all shifted on a complaint by various Telangana employees’ organisations to Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao that they belonged to Andhra Pradesh and that they had been working in the same posts for a long time. On Mr. Rao’s instructions, the staff were relieved of their duties and not given further postings.
The organisations have also requested the Chief Minister to fill the vacancies with staff from Telangana but if employees of that rank are not available, they should be filled by promotions.
Mr. Rao was also informed that there were at least 10 more personal secretaries of Ministers and senior IAS officers and 20 Section Officers from Andhra Pradesh against whom similar action was warranted. However, no decision has been taken yet.
Hectic days ahead
The biggest task that awaits Mr. C.R. Kamalanathan after returning from leave next week is to meet individually, the Heads of 110 Departments of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh and temporarily distribute their employees between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh on the basis of guidelines signed by Chief Secretaries of both States. Employees of 51 departments have already submitted their options to the HoDs while those of 12 other departments are in the process of exercising their choice.
After interacting with the HoDs, the Kamalanathan committee will make temporary allocation and this will be uploaded in the government portal. Employees have an option to raise objections, if any, which would be looked into by the concerned HoDs and then by the Kamalanathan committee. This is expected to be a laborious process. But everything has to be finalised by October 15, the deadline set for submission of the final list of allotment of State-level officers to the Government of India.
Meanwhile, the Central government has reversed its stand and reappointed its representative on the committee for reasons best known to it.
No room for lapses here
The Telangana government means strict business. This can be understood by the fact that two civil servants were shunted out for reasons other than routine transfers after the TRS came to power.
In September last, the Metropolitan Commissioner of Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority was transferred and denied posting till the allocation of all India service officers was completed between the two States as he reportedly delayed giving building permissions for industries.
Last week, the Superintendent of Police of Nalgonda district was shifted on the day of firing by armed youth at Suryapet bus station, resulting in the killing of a constable and a home guard. The death of an alleged thief in the custody of police at Miryalguda was reported in the same district a few days earlier. The crackdown has instilled fear in the official machinery, especially in the backdrop of oft repeated remarks of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao that he will not spare anyone guilty of lapses.
Bifurcation blues
At a time when the administration in Telangana is getting ready to gallop to meet the work demand arising out of the State Government’s flagship schemes, the institution of departmental inquiry against a woman officer in the Cooperation Department, who actively participated in the employees’ agitation for statehood to Telangana in the past, is creating a buzz in the corridors of power.
About a dozen Telangana Employees’ Associations are dubbing the action initiated against the woman officer, N. Kiranmayi, who is an Additional Registrar and Chief Auditor of Cooperatives, as an act of vengeance against her decision to suspend an executive engineer in the A.P. State Cooperative Rural Irrigation Corporation on charges of irregularities. Ms. Kiranmayi is also holding the additional charge of Managing Director of the APSCRIC.
The decision of Principal Secretary of Agriculture and Cooperation to order a departmental inquiry against Ms. Kiranmayi while relieving her of the responsibilities in the APSCRIC is being seen as a fallout of an ongoing tussle between the employees of AP and Telangana since the suspended engineer and in-charge Commissioner of Cooperation belongs to AP.
Reporting by N. Rahul, J.S. Ifthekhar, Asif Yar Khan and B. Chandrashekhar
