In an order on Monday night, the Union government gave Neelam Kapur, senior-most Indian Information Services officer, additional charge to handle the Ministries of Home and Sports along with her present charge as head of the Directorate of Field Publicity.
In 2014, when the Narendra Modi government took over, rules were tweaked to shift her from the post of Principal Director-General, Press Information Bureau (PIB), to head the Directorate of Field Publicity.
The PIB is the publicity arm of the Union government.
The directorate till then was headed only by an official of the rank of Director-General or Additional Secretary.
The government made the Principal Director-General post a “floating one”, which means any of the six media units of the government can be headed by an officer of that rank.
‘Changes humiliating’
The new orders have raised eyebrows with many PIB officials speaking to The Hindu , off the record, saying it was “humiliating”.
As Principal D-G of the PIB, she [Ms. Kapur] was in charge of information officers attached to every Ministry.
“The Ministry has issued an order, it is our duty to comply with it,” Ms. Kapur, however, said.
Her appointment is part of a wide-ranging reshuffle of the PIB. On November 24, nearly 50 IIS officials were reassigned. Sources say more transfers are to be expected.
The November 24 order includes transfer of K.S. Dhatwalia, D-G, PIB, who was handling the Home Ministry. He has been redesignated D-G (North-East) and will be based in Imphal. Ms. Kapur takes over Mr. Dhatwalia’s portfolio.
Minister’s meet
According to sources, for the first time, Information and Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani personally met all officials of the rank of Additional Director-General for a one-on-one meeting. She briefed the officials who were transferred out of Delhi.
In a similar transfer exercise on November 20, D-G, PIB, Ira Joshi, was appointed D-G, Doordarshan News, and D-G, PIB, Ghanshyam Goel, was appointed D-G, Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity.
Mr. Goel’s predecessor and 1984-batch IIS officer, Ether Kar, who is just four months short of her retirement, was put on “compulsory wait”.
“The process of reshuffle had began when M. Venkaiah Naidu was Minister for Information and Broadcasting. He wanted senior-level officials posted outside the capital for better outreach,” a senior government official said.
Out of the 24 IIS officers transferred, 12 were move out of Delhi.
