The resignation by yet another top-level IAS in less than six months has raised serious concerns about the functioning of the state government in power corridors.
The resignation by yet another top-level IAS in less than six months has raised serious concerns about the functioning of the state government in power corridors. The latest to go is additional chief secretary, K George Joseph, posted as chairman of the state civil services tribunal. Recently, chief election officer, Gujarat, Vinod Kumar Babbar had put in his papers citing personal reasons. It may be noted that 11 senior IAS officers have resigned since 2001.
To understand why the loss of every single IAS does matter to the state government, a look at the following figures will help. Over 100 posts meant for IAS officers are lying vacant, not to mention the 43 vacancies meant for IPS officials. What’s more, 12 senior-level administrative services officers are retiring this year. The list includes chief secretary D Rajagopalan, who is slated to retire this July.
Incidentally, the contenders for the top bureaucratic slot in the state are Balwant Singh, AK Joti, Varun Maira, DK Sikri and BK Sinha, all from the 1975 batch.
The important posts currently lying vacant include the principal secretary in the general administration department, principal secretary in the urban development department, principal secretary, expenditure and principal secretary, social justice and empowerment.
Four IAS officers scheduled to retire in April included additional chief secretary K George Joseph, chairman of the state civil services tribunal, MT Joshi, joint secretary, biotechnology, SR Pandor, district development officer, Porbandar, and GS Bokhani, joint secretary in food and civil supplies department.
Joseph was earlier expected to continue for three more years, his posting being a tenure-basis one. But, after getting an opportunity to move to his home state Kerala as member of central administrative tribunal for a longer tenure of five years, he decided to leave Gujarat.
The senior government officials, however, contest that ratio of IAS officials leaving the services for a lucrative job in private sector is much less in Gujarat than in most
other states.
On the other hand, the Gujarat government urgently needs to infuse fresh blood into the state bureaucracy if it is to succeed in its plan to transform the state into a global economic powerhouse. According to a DNA investigation, government employees above 40 years of age comprise almost 70% of the state bureaucracy while 56.71% of government employees are above 46 years of age.
Add to all this the number of IAS officials of Gujarat cadre posted elsewhere. The list includes Ashok Chawla, recently appointed as the new union finance secretary. Chawla, a 1973-batch officer, was earlier posted as secretary in the civil aviation ministry.
Another Gujarat cadre officer, Devendra Kumar Sikri, a 1975 cadre officer was registrar-general of India in ministry of home affairs.
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