State losing out on projects

By T. S. Ranganna

BANGALORE, MAY 10. The reluctance on the part of many Karnataka cadre IAS and IPS officers to go on deputation to the Centre is costing the State dearly in terms of developmental projects.

The effect is multi-dimensional. State governments send proposals for programmes to be taken up with Central assistance. Apart from this, States vie with each other to bag Central projects that are launched. It is here that the IAS and IPS officers play an important decision-making role. In comparison to other States, Karnataka is not adequately represented in New Delhi.

Two senior IAS and IPS officers and a few ministers too told TheHindu that not many officers opt to serve at the Centre. A person who served as officer on special duty in the Prime Minister's Secretariat said that Karnataka gets the lowest priority in the Central scheme of things because of a lack of lobbying and proper feedback to the State Government.

Karnataka has 257 IAS and around 170 IPS officers, of whom 35 per cent could serve at the Centre. This will also provide more opportunities for postings and promotions for other officers in the State. As of now, there are 45 IAS officers and barely half-a-dozen IPS officers on deputation to the Centre.

Among the IAS officers from the State, only two - Mr. C. T. Benjamin and Mr. K. V. Irniraya - are serving as secretaries in the ministries of industry and programme implementation. Others such as Mr. K. K. Misra, Mr. J. Vasudevan and Mr. Chiranjiv Singh are serving as principal secretaries. Mr. A. K. Agarwal, Dr. P. D. Shenoy, Mr. Dheerendra Singh, Dr. J. N. Chaubey, Mr. Gautam Basu, Ms. Veena Sreerama Rao, Mr. S. M. Acharya, Mr. Vinay Kumar, Mr. Subhir Hari Singh, Mr. Shantanu Consul, Mr. A. Ramaswamy and Mr. Sudhir Krishna are joint secretaries. Some are serving as directors and deputy secretaries and a few are posted abroad.

The position is worse as far as the IPS is concerned. The State finds no representation in senior postings at the Centre. According to the norms, the IPS officers cannot claim a right to be given Central postings. A committee, headed by the Cabinet Secretary, empanels officers for Central postings. The committee scrutinises officers' confidential records, considers whether they have served at the Centre and obtained CBI clearance and finally their aptitude to serve at the Centre is considered. Officers who refuse a posting will not be considered for Central posting for five years. The norms are so stringent that even a DGP of a State may not be considered for Central deputation if he has not been empanelled by the committee.

Among the State IPS officers, the Commissioner of Police, Bangalore, Mr. T. Madiyal, and Mr. Viswanathan are among the ones empanelled. Mr. T. Srinivasulu, who was special director in the Intelligence Bureau was likely to have become the Director of IB, had he not been brought back to the State as DGP.

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