Junior officers put GAD in troubled waters!

Jaipur: The General Administration Department (GAD) is the fourth most important department in the government after Home, Finance and Personnel.

But in the last three years of the present government, the condition of this department has deteriorated.

A total of 9 secretaries, more than all other departments, have changed in this department - T. Ravikanth, Rajat Mishra, Bhawani Detha, Rajesh Sharma, Pritam B. Yashvant, Dinesh Kumar Yadav, Gayatri Rathore, Roli Singh, and Jitendra Upadhyay in present.

This is an all-time record. Another record in the GAD has been made during the present government. There are four IAS officers working in this department – Jitendra Upadhyay, Shelly Kishnani, Sanwar Mal Verma, and Ramavtar Meena whereas there is no need and justification for so many IAS officers in this department.

Initially, the GAD was commanded by a special secretary only, who used to work under the guidance of the Chief Secretary. For the first time in 1996, Ashok Jain became the first secretary in GAD.

After this, senior officers of ACS and Principal Secretary ranks have been the head of the department who single-handedly used to handle the entire department with the help of Joint or Deputy Secretaries of RAS cadre.

Three years back, for the first time, the Department of Personnel (DoP) started appointing one more IAS officer on the post of Special Secretary in GAD, but as of today, four IAS officers are posted in the department without any need and justification.

Significantly, all these four officers are very junior - Jitendra Kumar Upadhyay - 2005 batch, Shelly Kishnani - 2008 batch, Sanwarmal Verma 2007 batch, and Ram Avtar Meena was promoted to IAS on January 1 this year only.

Experts say that GAD is responsible for important, sensitive, and highly confidential work like cabinet, protocol, and civil aviation.

Its command should be entrusted to the principal secretary or a senior secretary only but the present government has not hesitated to hand over the command to juniors like Pritam B Yashvant and even promotee IAS officers like Rajesh Sharma and Dinesh Kumar Yadav.

Needless to say, the condition of the department has become miserable due to the change of 9 secretaries, giving responsibilities to very junior IAS officers, and posting four IAS officers without need.

The department has become hollow from the inside and any mistake can put the government in trouble.