GREAT MARKS AND ABILITIES ARE GOOD, BUT CAN ANYONE BETTER DOP’S ‘WHIMSICAL APPROACH’ TO TRANSFERS?

Jaipur: A recent example of whims and fancies of DoP in transfer and postings has come to light, which has made a young, energetic and able IAS into a ‘shuttlecock’. Over one year, the DoP has transferred 2019 batch, all India topper, IAS Kanishka Kataria, not once or twice, but thrice. And almost as interesting is the story behind these postings. Kanishka’s first posting was as SDM of Ramganj Mandi in Kota in July 2021.

He was thereafter transferred in December 2021 to Mount Abu as SDM and now, after nine months at Abu, through the recent transfer list, he has been posted back to Ramganj Mandi. Thus, Kanishka has become a ‘shuttlecock.’

But who is Kanishka Kataria? He is the son of retired IAS of Rajasthan cadre Sanwarmal Verma and is a native of Jaipur. He has always been a topper in his studies and finished his graduation with a B.Tech from IIT Mumbai post which, he started working in South Korea. But he could not find his calling in the corporate field and returned to India, leaving his highpaying job. Thereafter, he started preparing for UPSC, following on the footsteps of his father Sanwarmal Verma and his paternal uncle retired IAS KC Verma; He became a topper in the very first attempt and was given the Rajasthan cadre.

After topping the exam, when the media thronged at Kanishka’s doors, he said, “People will expect me to be a good administrator and that’s exactly my intention.” However, his one-year experience in the service has been demotivating. This is still a question as to why was he shifted out of Ramganj Mandi to Mount Abu and then brought back to Ramganj Mandi. Word is that local politicians were not too happy with his work in Mount Abu.

Whatever may be the situation, the Department of Personnel has done injustice to Rajasthan’s own ‘Son-ofthe-soil’ and this is wrong on DoP’s part!