The process adopted for the appointment of special assistants to ministers in Rajasthan looks like a replication of the procedure at centre.
In 2019, Ram Vilas Paswan was again appointed as food and consumer affairs minister in NDA-II. His private secretary Sanjeev Hans, a 1997-batch IAS of Bihar cadre had completed his term. Paswan had then sent proposal to appoint P C Meena, a 2004-batch IAS of Haryana cadre, for his private secretary. But his name could not get cleared from PMO. This happened to many officers in NDA-II names of personal officers of ministers have to be mandatorily cleared from PMO.
The story is being replicated in Rajasthan. This time CMO or chief secretary office has been mandated to verify the credentials of special assistant (SA) and staff officers of ministers. Even after elapse of more than a month, only seven ministers have able to get special assistants including deputy chief ministers Diya Kumari and Prem Chand Bairwa. The verification drive of personal staff has been made so much mandatory that the government had to remove SAs appointed for both deputy chief ministers soon after their oath.
“The appointment of SAs dosing follow the procedure. So they have now been replaced against the wishes of deputy CMs,” said a senior officer.
The new practice of verification before appointment of SAs is likely to bring a check on corruption and is a step towards good governance.
“Earlier ministers would pick and choose officers who were either from their castes or their beneficiaries. There was in fact no control over the working of these officers. By selecting the right set of people with clean background and no previous links with ministers, governance in this government is likely to improve, “ the official said.
Sudhansh Pant brings with him
the best practices of centre
The chief secretary Sudhansh Pant has been one of the most preferred bureaucrats in centre. He is known for unbiased objective decision making. After coming back to Rajasthan he planned to implement the procedure followed to appoint personal staff of ministers at centre. Now people are raising their concern over delay in picking the right choice for ministers but the chief secretary perhaps wants to ensure the sure shot delivery of good governance of which he has been taking ever since he took over as chief secretary in the new year.
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