A Panther black Ford Ikon parked near Pranab babu’s white ambassador creates a drama outside the North Block on Tuesday

A BLACK Ford Ikon parked not so far away from finance minister Pranab Mukherjee’s white ambassador outside a North Block gate made a new security guard so upset that he wanted the driver to take it away immediately to the general parking lot. It was Tuesday afternoon when babu blogger witnessed the high-voltage drama of the Ikon’s driver refusing to obey the security personnel’s order saying that the car belonged to a secretary, and he had every right to park it right there. But the security personnel on his part refused to believe the driver as he believed no government officer’s car could be a black one if not a white ambassador. But that’s the reality in the parking lots of Delhi’s power corridors. More and more non-ambassador cars donning red lights and ferrying ministers and officers are quite visible in Lutyen’s Delhi now. In fact, home minister P Chidambaram was the first to get a new Ford Fiesta car replacing the Maruti Esteem used by him during the previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. But it’s white in colour which makes it still acceptable amongst white ambassadors. Yet, among the new Ford Ikons bought for finance ministry officials, there were ones in Panther black colour making them stand out in the parking lot. According to media reports, the Directorate General of Supplies and Disposals — a central purchase organisation of the Central government under the ministry of commerce and industries —approved Ford Fiesta and Ford Ikons after those cars were found more suitable than ambassadors. In fact, chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) and Infosys Technologies co-founder Nandan Nilekani disappointed many techies from Bangalore who wanted him to travel in a red light-fitted white ambassador in Delhi. Mr Nilekani instead preferred a Tata Indica, and that’s too without a siren! Action & Appointments a) Justice Jiwan Chandra Singh Rawat, Judge of the Uttarakhand High Court has been transferred as a Judge of the Jharkhand High Court. He may assume charge of his office in the Jharkhand High Court on or before October 3, 2009. b) Justice Tarun Agarwala, Judge of the Allahabad High Court has been transferred as a Judge of the Uttarakhand High Court. He may assume charge of his office in the Uttarakhand High Court on or before October 3, 2009. Japan’s new PM not to reprimand excellent bureaucrats Japan’s new Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said in his first press conference a few days ago that he might have begun the process of bestowing more power to the country’s elected representatives but had “no reason to reprimand excellent bureaucrats who work hard for the Japanese people”. It was a big relief to the bureaucrats around the world as Japan’s initiatives against bureaucracy could have impacted babudom around the world. After all, those who engage in Yen carry forward trade know it well that a little appreciation of Yen leads to the tumbling of equity markets across the globe!

Read, "Imagine secretary Pillai or Chawla debarred from briefing press; but new Japanese govt bans bureaucrats holding press meets" posted on September 16, 2009