Reshuffling officers

During his earlier terms in office, if one wished to meet Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, he would seek and get an appointment from one of the leader’s assistants and on that particular day, meet him, seek his blessings and offer his symbolic gift.

In today’s avatar, however, the Chief Minister seems to desire senior officers coming to meet him of their own accord. If an officer does not come forward voluntarily, Karunanidhi has been known to complain to his Personal assistants about that particular incident.

Let me mention here, that this article is not meant to compare the behaviour of the two chief ministers. It is my sincere desire that people are aware of how things work and am playing the role of a reporter, telling you exactly how things work. When we scrutinize their actions, not only do their mental attitudes come up to light but also their political styles.

Karunanidhi believes that if he were to help out a person or give an officer some responsibility, then such a person will be loyal and steadfast to him.

But Jayalalithaa has a totally different method of operation.

Thus a civil servant who is appointed as the secretary of a department has also got to the support of the Chief Secretary and then from the concerned minister. Presentations of bouquets or other gifts are left to his discretion, though it is current tradition not to give any bouquet or shawl to the Chief Secretary. There is a reason for this as well. .Presently, a Chief Secretary has no power in the appointment of an IAS officer, who naturally does not bother to pay too much attention to his senior.

But about 40 years back, the situation was quite different. The posting of IAS officers was completely in the hands of the Chief Secretary. The concerned file would merely go to the Chief Minister for signing.

Let us return to the present. Now after all the traditions of presentations, seeking blessings etc are complete, a Secretary begins to prepare to do his job. The first thing he will find is long line of officers from his own departments waiting to meet him with apples, fruit baskets, bouquets etc.
Let us take the case of the Secretary of the Department of Education. The Directors of Education, Government Examinations, Libraries, Matriculation Schools, Elementary Education –will come to give generalized observations on their directorates. The Secretary would go through them one by one, debate various issues with the Directors and try and get a grasp about the various problems facing each directorate, how they work and the rules and regulations governing them. This is quite a difficult task.

It is indeed unfortunate that today IAS officers neither bring experience, thought process nor a high grade of intelligence to understand their workload, take the proper action and that too amidst a severe workload. They are mere puppets who merely follow orders.

Further, even those in government, let alone the common man, have no concept how the changes in governments and the consequent wholesale transfers of senior civil servants affect the process of good governance.

After the 1996 elections which the DMK won, it focused its actions on the previous AIADMK government’s corruption and went around announcing that it would take severe action.

In part the report said: “Immediately list all the corruption and contraventions of rules sleaze that took place in your department and send it to the government.” Almost all officers sent what is known as a “Nil Report” which states that nothing happened and the officers concerned had to take responsibility as well.

However, we have to bear this fact in mind. Civil servants act in accordance, as far as possible, with the wishes of ministers and other political leaders. And in a number of instances actions are taken against laws, regulations and actions that are considered legal due to repeated use and tradition.

In fact it is officers themselves who teach ministers, and even the Chief Minister, how to bend the legal process, a sad fact in itself. Therefore there seems to be some justification in the regular transfers of senior and civil servants.

Though it was officially known that the new DMK Govt. would assume office on May 12, 2006, over 100 IAS and IPS officers, went to Arivalayam, the DMK headquarters, and sought 'darshan’ from Karunanidhi on May 11, and that too amidst a huge throng of people. Chief Secretary Narayanan and DGP PC Alexander met Karunanidhi at his residence on the evening of May 11 and discussed details about the latter’s assumption of office, details like, where, when and how.

Above all, Government Orders (G.O.) about Karunanidhi’s electoral promise on giving rice at Rs 2 per kilo and on the waiver of loans from co-operative societies were prepared the day before the new Govt. assumed office. Both these had to be done by the Chief Secretary, an event unheard of happening in any other state in India.

By law, the file should be prepared and sent for approval on the 13th and the signature obtained on the 14th of May, at the very least.

The very day after assuming the CM’s office, the Chief Secretary was transferred to the Secretary of Documentation, an insignificant post. Talking to me a retired Chief Secretary (from another state) said: A Chief Secretary is not transferred on the change of a government. He continues to function until retirement when he would be replaced according to seniority rules. What is happening in Tamil Nadu is not for the good.”

But the scenario in TN is very different. When Civil Servants and bureaucrats act almost as though they are part of the ruling party, why would not the incoming government transfer him? What else can be the result? When a senior officer goes out of his way and tries hard to have the ruling party retain power, what else will the opposition party, that has won, do but transfer him? How can anybody fault such a move? And this is what is also happening in Tamil Nadu.

A number of bureaucrats and senior police officers – including some from the CM’s office itself -, who had earned the goodwill of Jayalalithaa, rushed to meet Karunanidhi and present token gifts as soon as it had become clear that the DMK coalition was going to win.

It was a rare sight to see senior officers try similar stunts at DMK headquarters. Despite all this, most of the civil servants and police officers, who were close to Jayalalithaa and her regime and had obtained crucial posts, were transferred to posts with little or no power.

(To be continued)