TNN; Apr 4, 2011,
Governor K Sankaranarayanan's secretary Shrikant Deshpande was among the most powerful babus in the corridors of power till a month ago. In fact, he was the governor's eyes and ears. Surprisingly, after the governor appointed Vikaschandra Rastogi in his place, Deshpande, an IAS officer of the 1991 batch, is knocking on the doors of chief minister Prithviraj Chavan for an assignment.
Deshpande is among the senior bureaucrats who have been in waiting for about two months. It is for the first time in the recent past that a secretary to the governor has been waiting for a new assignment. Deshpande's predecessors were either given postings of their choice or were given plum assignments.
His immediate predecessor, Sitaram Kunte, was appointed housing secretary after his two-year Raj Bhavan tenure. The same was the case with V K Jairath, who was appointed industries secretary, and Sumit Mallick, at present chief protocol officer, had taken over as secretary of the school education department.
As secretary, Deshpande was responsible for Raj Bhavan's overall administration. Whether in the appointment of the chief information commissioner, Lokayukta, vice -chancellors of the agriculture, non-agriculture and health sciences universities, resolving the row over initiating action against controversial information commissioner Ramanand Tiwari or drafting guidelines for equitable allocation of funds for backward areas, Deshpande had provided inputs to Sankaranarayanan.
The governor's secretary is the main link between Raj Bhavan and the government. Deshpande will certainly a new posting, but there will be no charm in it.
Babus annoy Lokayukta;
Lokayukta P B Gaikwad, a former Bombay high court judge, has written a strongly worded letter to then chief secretary J P Dange over the failure of senior bureaucrats to appear before him. No doubt there is substance in Gaikwad's contention. Probably he does not know that the The Lokayukta's office has been cut off from the 'aam admi' as senior officials from his secretariat and the registrar don't allow individuals from interacting with Justice Gaikwad.
If an individual approaches the Lokayukta's office with confidential information, he is discouraged from meeting Justice Gaikwad.Shockingly, no reasons are given for this as to why an individual can't call on the Lokayukta
Justice Gaikwad , one of the most illustrious members of the judiciary, found that despite several reminders and specific notices, senior bureaucrats not only remain absent at the crucial hearing of cases, but do not even inform the Lokayukta about their inability to attend proceedings. After several reminders, a clerk from the department concerned is deputed to attend the hearing. Since the clerk is in the dark on the facts of the case, the Lokayukta has no option but to adjourn it. Justice Gaikwad has told the government that under the Lokayukta Act he can send erring babus to jail or impose a heavy fine on them for their failure to remain present before the Lokayukta. Says a senior Cabinet member, "Unless a bureaucrat is sent to jail, the powerful babus will not take note of the summons sent by the office of the Lokayukta.
Focus on Pune land deals;
Leader of the opposition, Eknath Khadse, invoked the Right To Information (RTI) Act to secure information on crucial issues. A week ago, Khadse obtained information on important trusts registered in Pune district. It was found that Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar's daughter Supriya Sule and his son-in-law Sadanand are associated with D B Realty, named in the 2G spectrum scam. Khadse also secured crucial information on Shahid Balwa's aircraft. The Pune ATC office informed Khadse that on a particular day besides Sharad Pawar and his wife, Balwa himself, BCCI president Shashank Manohar and his wife Varsha, were on board the Pune-Dubai flight.
While securing information under the RTI Act has become routine, it was found that on all documents obtained from the Pune collector's office on land transactions or official meetings presided over by the Pune collector or the divisional commissioner, there is a special note on every page.
It says that while the documents have been given as per provisions of the RTI Act, it can't be used as evidence either before a court or a quasi-judicial authority. . It was not known if the note has the approval of the collector or the divisional commissioner, but the The advisory is against the spirit of the RTI Act, since most documents obtained under the RTI Act have been used as evidence in many cases.
Khadse says he will knock at the doors of the chief information commissioner as the note appears to show the highhandedness of babus in the Pune collector's office.
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