DOP tries to ‘handle’ man-mgmt, makes it more difficult for self!

Jaipur: The muchawaited IAS transfer list was released on Sunday but it, according to observers, was a ‘halfhearted’ attempt, as merely four vacant posts have been filled from among the one and a half dozen vacant posts while important and major departments have been left as it is, to the ‘mercy’ of ‘additional charge’. In fact, one more post has gone vacant, while two more additional charges have been handed in the new list. The surprising transfer has been of senior IAS Sudhansh Pant, who has been removed from his post of Chairman of the Pollution Control Board within 110 days. Just like he was suddenly removed from the post of ACS, PHED, an almost similar has been his removal this time around as well. Word is that ministers have been the cause of his transfer. This is Pant’s fourth transfer in the current government and it remains to be seen as to how long he will serve on the seat of DG, HCM-RIPA, since he may get a posting in the Centre as Secretary at any time.

The appointment of KK Pathak to the post of Secretary, Finance (Revenue) is an ideal decision. A 2001 batch IAS, Pathak is a hard-working and silent performer, who has experience of working in 2 districts as a Collector and as Secretary of 5 departments in the State Secretariat. Notably, over the past year, three Secretaries have been changed in this important and responsible position and it is believed that Pathak will play a long innings here. Kumar Pal Gautam has been appointed as the 7th Excise Commissioner in the current government. The reason for quick changes of the Commissioner has been the inability of previous officials to come true to state government’s hopes and tests. Kumar Pal, a 2009 batch IAS, has been chosen from among many claimants. Gautam, who has served as Collector in four districts till now, was carrying out the responsibility of RUIDP and it will be worthwhile to see how he successfully navigates through the challenging responsibility. Notably, Kumar Pal had the additional charge of the Project Director of Jal Jeevan Mission. However, whether Kumar would continue to execute his responsibilities towards the Mission, has not been cleared by the DoP.

Handing T. Ravikant the responsibility of the Pollution Control Board, as an additional charge, is also a surprising step as he already has fulltime responsibility of Prasaran Nigam and Urja Nigam in the Vidyut Bhawan. 1998 batch IAS Ravikant is a trusted and result-oriented officer and has shown good performance in the Finance Department as well. It has merely been 3 months since he took over the job at Vidyut Bhawan and thus, handing him the new role of Pollution Control Board is not only impractical but also unjustified. LSG Secretary Jogaram was handed the additional charge of City Transport Company in the previous list, i.e. two major responsibilities. Now, he has been handed the additional charge of Project Director, RUIDP. It has merely been 7 months since the 2005 batch IAS Jogaram was promoted to the post of Secretary and therefore, in the initial stages, he has been handed too much work.

The State Government became so disgruntled with IAS Manju Rajpal that in September 2021, she was suddenly transferred to Ajmer from Jaipur from her post as Secretary, Panchayati Raj. But now, it seems all is well between the government and Rajpal as she has been brought back to the Secretariat and handed the reins of Rural Development. Even though a new transfer list has been released, however, the man-management is still far from perfect and is still extremely ‘disturbed’. Therefore, a new list is now due.