A proposal in the administration to depute 40 IPS officers of the hitherto combined Andhra Pradesh cadre to States other than Telangana as they were in excess of the sanctioned strength for the new Andhra Pradesh government has caught the imagination of All-India Service officers.
Post bifurcation, the cadre strength of Andhra Pradesh has been fixed at 144 but, after considering outsider officers who have to be distributed by roster, the State has 40 more ‘insiders’. In these circumstances, the administration weighed the option of deputing them to Telangana where their strength is woefully short of the sanction. The idea, however, seems to have been given up considering the fixation against Andhra officers. Therefore, it was proposed to depute them to other States and bring them back temporarily to Telangana after initial days of euphoria over its formation were over.
Ravi Reddy
Still hanging in balance!
The Central government has allotted 44 IAS officers to Telangana on a temporary basis to run the administration when the State comes into existence from today.
They are all direct recruit insiders, conferred (promotee) officers above the rank of secretary and outsiders who were selected by roster. The allotment is subject to final selection, a complex process followed on the basis of roster, option and lottery, which may take another couple of weeks.
A senior Principal Secretary said it is no relief that the 44 officers will initially work for Telangana even as the Damocles sword hangs over their heads till the final allotment.
B. Chandrashekhar
Hectic lobbying
Some of the All-India Service officers are said to be involved in hectic lobbying and knocking on the right doors not only to remain in Hyderabad as part of the Telangana government but also to get plum postings. Therefore, it is no surprise that they have all met the Chief Minister designate of Telangana K. Chandrasekhar Rao.
A strong reason for those apprehending that they may not be retained in Telangana is the havoc that the roster system could play to edge out “unwanted” officers. However, the outgoing Chief Secretary P.K. Mohanty has insisted that there would be total transparency in the allotment of officers and it would not be “predetermined”.
Y. Mallikarjun
Orders galore
A record 27 government orders were issued on a single day last week allocating office space outside of the Secretariat for as many heads of departments of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
The orders were a culmination of a series of meetings the IAS and IPS officers held with a sectoral committee for allocation of office space since the bifurcation process began. Interestingly, the departments were permitted to be divided between States within the same building where they were located but on different floors. If this was not possible, the orders said: “locate offices of the two States with clear demarcation of space in separate wings of the same floor”.
Fortunately, the officers were relieved that such a situation did not arise which could have otherwise led to friction between employees at the workplace.
N. Rahul
