Junior officer signed appointment orders of new chief secy, principal advisor to CM

PUBLIC EYE

Junior officer signed appointment orders of new chief secy, principal advisor to CM

PRAFULLA MARPAKWAR

06.07.2020

Both newly appointed chief secretary Sanjay Kumar and his predecessor Ajoy Mehta, who has been appointed principal advisor to the CM, were taken aback to see their appointment orders had been signed by the junior-most officer in Mantralaya. Transfer and posting orders of secretary rank bureaucrats are usually signed by additional chief secretary (services); in this case, Sitaram Kunte. But the orders were signed by a deputy secretary in the general administration department.

When Mehta was due to retire on June 30, several possibilities were discussed in the corridors of power—an extension of tenure for Mehta or appointment of Sanjay Kumar. The third alternative was selecting either Kunte or

former BMC commissioner Praveen Pardeshi for the job. Ultimately, Uddhav Thackeray chose to appoint Sanjay Kumar. As per procedure, the file was submitted to Kunte’s office, but he had already left Mantralaya for the day. Since the CM’s office insisted both Sanjay Kumar and Mehta’s orders must be issued on the same day, Kunte asked a deputy secretary to issue the orders. A top bureaucrat said it was unfortunate that the junior-most officer had signed the orders.

A lesson from Tawde’s book

The kerfuffle over the decision to buy a car worth Rs 23 lakh for school education minister Varsha Gaikwad notwithstanding the worstever resource crunch has led to a rather interesting discovery. During his tenure as education minister in the Devendra Fadnavis government, Vinod Tawde never used an official car.

When Tawde, a senior BJP leader, was appointed leader of opposition in 2012, the legislature secretariat asked him about his choice of car, but he said he would use his personal car. On being appointed education minister, his choice of car was sought once again, but Tawde opted to use his own car. So long as he held a government post, Tawde says, he had decided not to use an official vehicle.