Is Rameshwar Thakur stretching himself too far? | A. Jayaram

Published on 15-02-2008 In National

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Is Rameshwar Thakur stretching himself too far?

The Governor of Karnataka Rameshwar Thakur has little in defence of his action in replacing the Chief Secretary of the State. As though he has an agenda or a manifesto to implement in the State, he has removed Prahlad Bindurao Mahishi and appointed Sudhakar Rao in his place.

Thakur is now at the receiving end of the allegation of partisanship and has needlessly undone a decision of the Janata Dal-BJP government in the State. The shifting of Mahishi was uncalled for viewed from any angle. The Governor's only grouse against him might be that he was an appointee of the Janata Dal chief minister H.D.Kumaraswamy. By all means, Mahishi has had a blemishless record in the IAS. He can only be faulted for some aloofness, which most IAS officers are guilty of. Many officers of integrity suffer from that shortcoming, appearing to be anti-people.

While many who have faced charges of corruption or even prosecuted, have been extremely friendly with the people and even cosy with the politicians. Mahishi was not one of those publicity mongering high profile bureaucrats. No doubt there is anything to be said questioning the record of his successor Sudhakar Rao.

The Governor has not touched those IAS or IPS officers who are into business like film production, share platforms with politicians or have even floated fans' associations in their names. An IAS officer from the State had criticized the Indian nation of practising apartheid while speaking at a conference in South Africa some years ago. Only recently the Lokayukta has booked a case under the Prevention of Corruption Act against this official.

So far President's rule was taken to be a caretaker administration. There was no precedent of the head of the State's civil service-the chief secretary- being removed during president's rule. That was so even during the longer innings of two former governors who had administered the State –the former Union Cabinet Secretary Dharma Vira and the former Union minister from Andhra Pradesh and Congress leader P.Venkatasubbaiah. Dharma Vira, by far one of the more popular governors was said to be unhappy with some of the senior officers of his time. But he retained the late R.J.Rebello as chief secretary. Rebello served as chief secretary for two terms. But the case of Venkatasubbaiah was different. He has gone down as the most partisan governor. The chief secretary during his governorship, A.B.Datar had accused him of converting the Raj Bhavan into a Congress party office during the president's rule of 1989. He meddled openly in the transfer of officials. Datar has said in a book on his days in the civil service.

So far the incumbent Governor Thakur was under attack from only the former chief minister and BJP leader, B.S.Yediyurappa. Joining the attack against him now is the former Prime Minister H.D.Deve Gowda and his son H.D.Revanna. Mahishi cannot be blamed if the former chief minister H.D.Kumaraswamy had appointed him to the top post overlooking the seniority of some others.

Kumaraswamy had superseded five IAS officers Mrs.Renuka Vishwanathan, K.P.Singh, Ramesh Kumar, A.Sengupta and Ms.Veena Sriram Rao in the appointment of Mahishi in December 2006. Mahishi had succeeded Ms.Malathi Das who held office for only three months.

Governor Thakur has outdone Kumaraswamy by appointing Sudhakar Rao ignoring the seniority of eight others Mrs.Vishwanathan, Sengupta, Veena Rao, Mahishi himself, Ms.Neerja Rajkumar, Dilip Rau, Falguni Rajkumar and Ms.Usha Ganesh. Though he is from Bihar, he has his favourite officers in Karnataka!

There is the view that Sudhakar Rao came to be appointed because of his good connections in New Delhi. Compared with other IAS officers, his service in Karnataka is short. His wife is the Ambassador to China, Ms.Nirupama Rao. However he too is not without a Kumaraswamy connection. He was the principal secretary when Kumaraswamy was the chief minister. Mahishi might have committed an indiscretion by forwarding to the Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde letters critical of the raids he is carrying out against government officials received from a former MP and an advocate who appears in service matters.

Justice Hegde had frowned upon Mahishi's action. But by the time he displayed his impertinence, the Governor is stated to have made up his mind to remove him.

It is being stated that the Congress Party in the State had a role in the removal of Mahishi, which viewed him as a Deve Gowda or Kumaraswamy man. Thakur cannot shield himself against the criticism of being a Congress party partisan, as he himself was a Member of that Party. It is also noteworthy that some of the governors have not been severing their political connections as has been revealed by the Maharashtra Governor S.M.Krishna who is overeager to return to State politics. Whatever might be his other credentials like being a chartered accountant of six decades' standing and a former Union minister, Thakur could enter the Raj Bhavan first in Bhubaneshwar and now in Bangalore, because of his membership of the Congress.

He could have left controversial decisions like changing the Chief Secretary to the elected government. It is not known as to how two of the advisers to the Governor, P.P.Prabhu and S.Krishna Kumar, acquiesced themselves in the action taken against Mahishi. They know the State administration too well being former Karnataka cadre IAS men. Both have the record of declining the position of chief secretary when the turn for the top post came.

The question of a committed civil service and more so a committed judiciary which came to the fore in the 1970s when Indira Gandhi was the prime minister, has again raised its head. Should political parties prefer officers owing allegiance to them or their leaders? In the current context should a Chief Secretary be a loyalist of the occupant of the Raj Bhavan who is wielding temporary authority? Officials have to subserve the public cause and further the public good and not be camp followers of those in authority, a chief minister or a governor. They should fearlessly uphold the public interest. The way the administration is being handled in the country in the last few decades, fortifies the view that the spoils system has come to be adopted here.

The last time the shifting of a chief secretary turned into a controversy was in December 2002, when Dr.A.Ravindra retired. The S.M.Krishna administration appointed B.S.Patil as his successor ignoring two of his seniors M.B.Prakash and the Late C.Gopal Reddy. Prakash opted for premature retirement from the IAS and Reddy stayed back at the Centre. That B.S.Patil had political ambitions even when in service was amply demonstrated. After his retirement he joined the Congress and unsuccessfully contested the 2004 Lok Sabha elections from Dharwad North.

There is one case of a superseded all India service (IPS) officer of Karnataka regaining the position denied to him. That was the case of C.Dinakar who was overlooked in the appointment of Director-General and Inspector-General of police by the J.H.Patel government. T.Sreenivasulu came to be appointed in his place in 1997. Dinakar approached the Central Administrative Tribunal and took the case to its logical end till the Supreme Court. In May 1999 the Supreme Court quashed the appointment of Srinivasulu and directed the government to "re-do" the selection of the police chief. Dinakar had levelled the allegation of prejudice against J.H.Patel. Dinakar who came to be appointed as the police chief by the Krishna dispensation alleged in a book that the government had paid a ransom of Rs.30 crores to the forest brigand Veerappan to get the release of the Kannada matinee idol Rajkumar.

No doubt in the matter of appointment to senior positions in the government, it is merit cum seniority which matter and not seniority alone. But in the determination of merit that likes and dislikes and even prejudices that come into play. Already one of the superseded IAS officers Dilip Rau has approached the Central Administrative Tribunal questioning the appointment of his junior Sudhakar Rao.

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