How did a pilot become your top babu, SC questions Mayawati

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati may have to do a lot of work to defend placing her man Friday Shashank Shekhar Singh on an extra berth of cabinet secretary even though he is a pilot by profession and doesn’t even have any remote connect with bureaucracy.

Questioning Singh’s appointment as Uttar Pradesh Cabinet secretary, the Supreme Court on Monday asked Mayawati government as to how and why a non-IAS or a state administrative service official has been elevated to the coveted post.
Singh was a pilot before heading the state administrative machinery in 2007.

“How can you pick up someone and appoint him to the post? There have to be rules and regulations,” a Bench of Justices BS Chauhan and TS Thakur said.

“If someone is an expert in a field like computers and has done exceptionally well in his field, like Sam Pitroda, he can be appointed as an adviser but for these posts (Cabinet secretary etc), there have to be rules and regulations,” a concerned bench said.

While hearing the public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Harish Chandra Pandey, the court had earlier sought the replies from the state and central government. Pandey has challenged the appointment and has sought his removal on the ground that he is not an IAS officer.