Chidambaram’s blue-eyed boy Arbind Modi finds his way to Plan Panel

ARBIND Modi, a 1981 batch IRS (I-T) officer and the blue eyed boy of home minister P Chidambaram has been appointed as Consultant in the Planning Commission in the same pay and grade in which he was working in his present cadre, for a period of 3 years. He was one of the main architects of the proposed direct tax code which Mr Chidambaram as the finance minister pursued hard to give it a concrete step. Mr Modi’s tenure as joint secretary in the revenue department under the ministry of finance was however not extended a few months ago despite Mr Chidambaram and deputy chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia had reportedly requested finance minister Pranab Mukherjee at a personal capacity to consider his extension. Significantly, the IRS officers unitedly lobbied against the Code, designed and evolved by their fellow IRS Mr Modi and a handful of his colleagues.

(In Picture: Railway minister Mamata Banerjee with her team of officials on the eve of presenting the railway Budget on Wednesday)

Action and Appointments

a) The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the proposal for the regularization of overstay by VK Singh, a 1987 batch AP cadre IPS officer for the period September 10, 2004 to March 4, 2005, while on inter-cadre deputation from Andhra Pradesh to Bihar.

b) The competent authority has approved that UN Panjiyar, a 1973 batch Bihar cadre IAS IAS and secretary in the ministry of water resources will continue to hold the additional charge of the post of secretary, ministry of parliamentary affairs during the absence on leave of Anil Kumar, a 1973 batch UP cadre IAS up to March 3, 2010.

c) The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has rejected the proposal of the ministry of health and family welfare to appoint Vineet Chowdhry, a 1982 batch Himachal Pradesh IAS, presently joint secretary in the department as senior Deputy Director General(Admn) in Indian Council of Medical Research(ICMR) under the department of health research, on lateral shift basis.

d) Evan Rynjah Solomon, a 1980 batch IA&ASofficer has been appointed as joint secretary in the ministry of minority affairs for a period of five years.

e) Nirmal Kumar Sinha, a 1982 batch IRSE officer has been appointed as Deputy Director General (Joint Secretary level) in the Unique identification Authority of India (UIDAI) at Delhi under the Planning Commission for a period of 5 years.

f) Hindupur Pradeep Rao, a 1981 batch IA&AS officer has been appointed as joint secretary and financial adviser, in the department of expenditure for a period of five years.

g) The competent authority has approved the premature reversion of M Deena Dayalan, a 1978 batch IA&AS as joint secretary and financial adviser in the department of expenditure to his parent cadre with immediate effect in order to enable him to avail the benefit of promotion to the next higher grade in the cadre.

Bureaucrats in Rakesh Mohan headed committee on transport

Who are the bureaucrats in newly formed Rakesh Mohan-headed high level national transport development policy committee? The committee will be chaired by Dr Rakesh Mohan in an honorary capacity, with the rank of minister of state.

The members are chairman, railway board, secretary, ministry of urban development, secretary, ministry of road transport and highways, secretary, ministry of civil aviation, secretary, ministry of shipping, secretary, department of financial services, secretary, ministry of coal, secretary, ministry of power, secretary, ministry of petroleum & natural gas, adviser to Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, chairman, RITES, M Ravindra, former chairman, Railway Board, S Sundar, former transport secretary, DP Gupta, former DG Roads, BN Puri, senior consultant (transport) who will be Member Secretary of the committee.

Why Mittal was sacked by Kalmadi?

Any clue why Sanjeev Mittal, a 1984 batch Indian Defence Accounts officer who was appointed by the PMO in Commonwealth Games organizing committee was sacked by chairman Suresh Kalmadi? Write to babu.blogger1@gmail.com