Author: Prafulla Marpakwar
Publication: The Times of India
Date: November 18, 2006
Chief Secretary R M Premkumar is at loggerheads
with the home department over a major reshuffle among the top police
brass on Monday. Premkumar has taken the line that since he is head of the
bureaucracy, the home department should have routed all files through him.
Apparently Premkumar was unhappy over the fact that while the home department
transferred more than a dozen IPS officials, his office was completely in
the dark on the reshuffle. "Premkumar came to know of the transfers of
IPS officials from the media reports on Tuesday. He is the administrative
head of the state, and as such, all departments are supposed to inform him
of changes," an official said.
If matters pertaining to promotions, departmental
Inquiries, suspensions, disciplinary actions are all brought to the notice
of the chief secretary, then why was he kept away from the process of transfers
of IPS officials, he asked.
For a long time, even transfers of IPS officials were routed through the CS.
However, after the saffron combine assumed power in 1995, the then deputy
CM Gopinath Munde introduced the concept of bypassing the CS. Then Munde used
to personally take the proposals drafted by the home department to the CM
for approval. Now the practice has become a rule rather than an exception.
Munde's practice was followed by his successor Chhagan Bhujbal and now R R
Patil. A home department official said IPS transfers now are a matter between
the deputy CM and CM and as such not only the chief secretary, but even the
additional chief secretary (home) is in the dark on the final proposals. "Patil
personally takes the files pertaining to transfers of IPS officials to Deshmukh
for approval. Unless the orders are signed by the CM, we very rarely come
to know of the actual proposals," the official added.
