The Hindu Business Line : North Block recast for a trim look

A FEW more heads are likely to roll in North Block very soon. With his maiden Budget sailing through Parliament with minor amendments, the Finance Minister, Mr Jaswant Singh, has now taken up in right earnest the task of putting his house in order.

Following the exit of five senior joint secretary level bureaucrats from North Block in recent times, the next official on the chopping block, according to informed sources, is Mr G.S. Dutt, Joint Secretary (Foreign trade), in the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA). At least, one more is likely to be added to the exit list shortly as a part of the ongoing reorganisation.

Sources said the restructuring exercise had been initiated to trim the bureaucracy and streamline the working of the various divisions in the Ministry of Finance, especially the DEA, to render them more efficient in operations.

In keeping with the Minister's Budget announcement of trimming and reorganising the divisions under the DEA from the current 15 to seven, the Advisor to the Finance Minister, Dr Vijay Kelkar, has already been entrusted with the job of charting out the roles and working of the new wings and detail the operational hierarchy so as to ensure minimal or totally avoid functional overlap with other key economic Ministries.

The seven divisions envisaged under the DEA are Economic policy; Analysis: National and International; Trade & Aid; Infrastructure & Coordination; Banking (merged with Insurance); Budget; and Capital Markets (with Pensions).

Alongside, to bring about cohesiveness in operations, the Finance Minister has been spending time in the selection of his team that he would like to have in place in good time. Soon after Mr Singh took over as the Finance Minister, having swapped places with Mr Yashwant Sinha, the first official to be moved out of North Block was Mr S. Behuria (Joint Secretary) who had completed his tenure.

By end-2002, two officials were "cherry-picked" by the Minister. Picked up from the Department of Personnel and Training was Mr P.K. Deb (Joint Secretary), to look after public sector enterprises (PSEs), Japan and the UN. An IAS official of the Rajasthan cadre, Mr Deb is also the Chief Vigilance Officer of the Ministry.

The other official brought in was Mr Vivek Rae (Joint Secretary) who is now looking after Plan finance - States (PF II) in place of Mr R.N. Choubey (Joint Secretary) who has since been moved to the Twelfth Finance Commission.

In more recent times, four more joint secretaries have been moved out of North Block. They are Mr Navin Kumar (Adm.), DEA; Mr Prashant Mehta (Revenue); Ms Usha Mathur (Personnel), Department of Expenditure; and Mr Ajit Sharan (Insurance). While Ms Mathur sought repatriation to her parent cadre, Mr Kumar has been put on `compulsory wait'. The other officials have been inducted into other Ministries.

Incidentally, Mr Kumar, a Bihar cadre officer, was picked up by Mr Yashwant Sinha as his Private Secretary during his tenure as the Finance Minister in 1991. Again in 1999, Mr Sinha picked him up as a joint secretary in the DEA.

While these joint secretary-level vacancies are in the process of being filled up, sources said the Finance Ministry would be fully restructured by the June-end when the Finance Secretary, Dr S. Narayan, is due for superannuation.

Who is to come in Dr. Narayan's place is still in the realms of speculation as the Finance Minister is yet to make up his mind. Quite a few names are being bandied about and this includes the Commerce Secretary, Mr Deepak Chatterjee, the senior-most bureaucrat at the Centre, as well as the Petroleum Secretary, Mr B.K. Chaturvedi, who had a stint in the Finance Ministry earlier.

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