OVERHEARD: A Chief Secretary  gets angry with an Additional Chief Secretary

OVERHEARD: A Chief Secretary  gets angry with an Additional Chief Secretary

FPJ BureauUpdated: Wednesday, May 29, 2019, 09:34 AM IST
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Losing cool

A few weeks have passed since the Chief Secretary (CS) got angry with an Additional Chief Secretary (ACS), and that saw the ACS transferred to another department during an administrative shake-up. The ACS has been demanding the charge of a department along with the one he is working for, but his shifting to another unit has caught him up short.

What made the CS raise Cain was the outlook of the ACS on an important matter. While all other officers opposed the issue, the ACS set his agenda to implement it. Due to the Chief Secretary’s interference, the plan could not be implemented yet, the fate of the ACS was scripted immediately afterwards. Besides, since the staffers of the department this hard-to-please ACS was heading were not happy with him, his going to another unit was no less than a celebration for them.

Boot over head

A principal secretary (PS) has created a record of sorts in being transferred to different departments because of his laidback attitude. In fact, his way of working saw him transferred for the fifth time in a short while. The problem with this PS is that he keeps all the files of the department that he works for piled up on his table. The slow progress of an important project being implemented by the department the PS was heading made the Chief Minister lose his cool.

When all efforts by others to change his attitude towards work came to nought he was shifted to such a department that does not have much work. Since he never accepts his fault for his frequent transfers, he simply blames it on others, and this time too his behaviour was no exception. After the transfer, he blamed some officers in the CM’s secretariat for it. For this cool-approach officer, a PS who was recently transferred to the state capital had to suffer. The officer who wanted to join the CM’s secretariat could not go there, because he was sent to the department that the indolent officer was shunted out of.

T-company

It is said among bureaucrats, that one group always crops up to have an edge over another. And before that lobby fades into oblivion another mushrooms into more powerful one in the corridors of power. Such a group as has recently come up is called ‘T-company’ which played an important role in the recent administrative shake-up. Not only many collectors but also some officers got plum postings because of the blessings of the ‘T-company’. A ‘T’ is all that a bureaucrat needs to get an important position. While many officers say transfers should be done on the basis of performance, some of them began to call themselves ‘T’ to get plum postings.

Night meetings

An officer is feeling stressed because of the night meetings of the Chief Minister these days. The CM, after completing the day’s business, holds meetings at night and that Sahib has to be present there. Since those meetings sometimes continue late in the night, the officer who is fond of parties has to stay back. He feels sad about it, because he does not want to skip those late-night parties.

Enjoying parties after the CM’s meetings is spoiling the schedule of this officer, because hangover from the late-night party remains with him throughout the day. Those who work with him are observing that. Since the officer is not in the habit of working late night, he does not know how to deal with that hangover. It’s heard, that this officer wants to put a stop to the late-night meetings. To do that, he has put up several reasons before the CM who did not buy any of his arguments.

Lobbying

Speculative about their transfers, two principal secretaries say they will soon be shifted from their present departments. The argument both of them put up is, that the government will not keep them in the departments they are working in for long. But their names never figure on the transfer list. About the transfer of these two officers, one of whom is a female, has been discussed at all levels. In fact, before the female bureaucrat is transferred it will be necessary for the government to discuss about it with a constitutional body which she works for, so her being shifted from the post does not see the light of the day.

Another reason is that the government cannot find an alternative to her for the department. The same thing is with another PS. The government does not shift an officer to this post, because the name of the officer, who will be transferred to that constitutional position, has to be recommended by the unit the officer is heading. About this PS, it is said, that since he has a strong lobby in the department that proposes the name for a new incumbent, the officials working there are not keen on getting him shifted. However, the RSS is making all efforts to remove him.

Weeping

A commissioner began to weep at a meeting, and on seeing him do that, all those who were present there were ill at ease. Despite their efforts to pacify him, the officer did not stop sobbing. The reason is that a court has issued an order against him in a case asking the government to start criminal proceedings against him. The officer is in trouble after that. Even as the officers at the meeting tried to sooth him saying that there is nothing to worry about such cases as are of routine nature, he continued to say his life is in ruins. And what actually worried him, was his post-retirement problems. Accordingly, those who are working with him are also edgy about the health of the commissioner.

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