Govt blocks retired babus’ corporate trip

The list of hopefuls were S D Mohile, former Chairman, Central Board of Excise and Taxes, A K Agnihotri, retired member, Railway Board, N Seshagiri, former director-general, National Informatics Centre, S Narendra, former principal information officer, Press Information Bureau, and Yogesh Chandra, former chairman, Indian Trade Promotion Organisation. All of them held posts of secretary-level and were in the senior Group A category, in the salary slab of Rs 26,000 and above.

Except for Seshagiri and Chandra, who have sought permission to take up assignments with private organisations, the former with Sterling Computers, and the latter with a prize posting in an international tourism council, the rest of the luminaries have asked for permission to start their own consulting firms. In the case of Chandra, the DoPT has objected to the appointment and the case is pending with the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).

DoPT officials quote Rule 10 of the Central Civil Service (Pension) 1972 Act, which lays down that any person, who has retired from government service in Group A, requires permission from the government to take up commercial employment or consultancy if it is within two years of their leaving the service. If they do not do so, their pension can be withheld.

As a DoPT official explains, “The rule is a safeguard against a quid pro quo arrangement that may be struck between bureaucrats and private companies for favours that may go the latter’s way. It is to stop an offical from taking employment with a firm with which he may have had dealings with in terms of contracts, etc. And, by the way, the term `consultancy’ is just a euphemism for advising firms they have had dealings with.”

There are several instances in the recent past which are glaring examples of how bureaucrats have taken up jobs in the private sector with alacrity, despite their past association with them and, have got away with it.

Recently, a former petroleum secretary opened a consultancy firm in the energy sector advising private companies in the field while a former agriculture secretary has joined as director, in a leading private, agriculture firm. One additional secretary, commerce, who played an important role dealing with the WTO in the early ’90s, went on to join the organisation later.

The most celebrated case is that of former secretary, Information and Broadcasting, Rathikant Basu, who left the government to head Rupert Murdoch’s STAR TV as CEO. He took several senior officials from DD with him, including Indira Mansingh, Urmila Gupta, Vimla Bhalla and R. Basavaraj. While they all forfeited their gratuity and pension for the more lucrative dollar salaries, there was disquiet in the government over the exit as at least three of them, excluding Basu and Gupta, as they had also served the government intelligence agency, RAW. But it was not long before the storm blew over.

In the last three years, at least one former secretary, Shipping, has started a shipping consultancy firm while a former telecommunications secretary, has also become a consultant to an association comprising multi-national telecommunication companies. Or, a former Secretary, Industry, who charges $ 250 for advice to a string of international firms. A DoPT official simply explains these lapses with a warning, “We are stricter now.”

Retired bureaucrats scoff at the government rule, especially in the face of a proposal by the Civil Services Board, which will allow serving officers a three-year deputation in the private sector.

Says a long retired officer, “What about the dozens of IAS officers who are in the CII? Isn’t that a den of businessmen where it is easy to strike deals? What is required is a standardised procedure which is applicable to all, the system should be transparent, so that it is known why one application is accept.