LOBBYING’ FOR FAVOURITES GETS IAS SELECTION PROCESS IN ‘UNFORESEEN SITUATION’!

Jaipur: The issue of promotion of 2 officers from other services into IAS seems to have hit a hurdle as even though 2 weeks have passed, the UPSC has not been able to issue the list of selected officers.

Knowledgeable sources claim that it is perhaps for the first time in UPSC’s history that such a delay has occurred. Word is that the members of Interview Board have not reached a consensus on the names of selected officers, hence the minutes of the December 27 meeting of the Board, are not being released.

1 senior member has not signed the minutes as yet and the member is not in agreement with the selection. Sources reveal that an influential member, advocated on 2 officers, and forcibly got them selected, although both these officials - OP Bairwa and Mahendra Singh Khadgawat - did not fall into the selection criteria.

Moreover, they scored the lowest marks of all the interviewed candidates, out of a total of 50 marks. It is said that the most numbers (sequentially) were given to Rashid Khan, Shipra Vikram, Brijendra Singh, Bhupesh Mathur and Akul Bhargava.

Therefore, it is obvious when questions are being raised as to why during the interview process, few members went out of the way and advocated for their ‘favoured’ officials?

This is the reason why in spite of meritorious and capable candidates, those with good backing, lobby and incapable of handling work, become IAS.

Fingers are thus raised on such selections, for example in the year 2020, when questions were raised on few officers out of 4 officers that became IAS from other services.

Meanwhile, those in the know-how of bureaucratic affairs claim that if all the members of the Interview Board do not agree on the ‘selection’ of OP Bairwa and Mahendra Singh, then the entire process could be called off and then, with the vacancy of year 2021, the entire process will be started afresh.

Generally, irregularities can be witnessed, instead of transparency and a neutral approach, and therefore the RAS association has been demanding abolishing the entire process altogether.