Irrelevant leak

The request for a CBI probe into Kishore8217;s assets, on the other hand, has been turned down. The government feels no case of wrong doing has been made out.

Clearly someone wants to stymie Kishore8217;s future prospects. But shouldn8217;t MPs be a little more discerning and question the relevance of the documents they receive before tarnishing an officer8217;s reputation. The leaked documents are Kishore8217;s annual statements of his assets over a span of 30 years, which he himself has been submitting to the government.

Spy or scapegoat?

In May last year Kashyap Kumar, a director in the Naval War Room, was charged, convicted, and sentenced within a month without a court martial under a rarely used doctrine of presidential displeasure.

His alleged crime was that he had been guilty of leaking classified information to commercial operators, since his pen drive was found to have been used in a spying operation. Kumar said that the moment he had lost his pen drive he had reported it to the naval authorities. He was made a scapegoat since the Navy was anxious to put a lid on a major spy scandal in which several well-connected naval officers were involved.

A year later, thanks to the CBI the full ramifications of the spy network are coming to light and it is not just commercial espionage, as the Navy had claimed. Last week, the CBI filed cases against five persons in the Navy War Room leak case, including the nephew-in-law of navy chief Admiral Arun Prakash. Significantly, Kumar is not one of those charge-sheeted. He has appealed in the high court against his unjust dismissal.

DRDO principle

Cabinet Secretary B K Chaturvedi8217;s continuance in office for another year is not the only exception to the supposedly ironclad rule that those in fixed-tenure jobs should not get additional time. Taking a cue from the Chaturvedi example, Indian envoys to Moscow, Washington and London all of whom are super annuated, have been granted a year8217;s extension. Now a case is being made out that Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran is equally indispensable and he should also either be allowed to continue for a year after his retirement or else be drafted into the PMO.

Cynics describe it as the DRDO phenomenon. This is not a reference to the Defence Research Development Organisation, but the fact that there are Different Rules for Different Officers!

Winding-up operation

Jaiprakash Narayan, an anti-corruption activist who started the NGO Lok Satta, which works for government reform, has quit the National Advisory Council. He is the third member to put in his papers. Jean Dreze and Aruna Roy had resigned last month. . There are now only seven members left in the council and more are contemplating putting in their papers.

The two-year term of the NAC expired last month and the government has not yet decided whether to grant the body a fresh term. Members, including secretary Arun Bhatnagar, have merely been asked to stay on till December on an hoc basis. The uncertainty about the continuance of the NAC is because of indications that Gandhi is not planning to return to her old job even if the Office of Profit bill is cleared by the president.

Ball in wrong court

Commerce Minister Kamal Nath arrived an hour late for a an informal but important behind-the-scenes meeting of ministers last Friday at the WTO conference in Geneva. He explained to some delegates that he had been watching the Germany Argentine World Cup match that went into extra time and penalties. The Financial Times pounced on the minister8217;s stray remark to claim that Nath appeared distracted at the talks and pointed out cattily that the Argentinean negotiating team turned up on time despite the match.

A spokesperson for the minister, however, clarified that if Nath appeared disengaged it was reflective of the absence of 8216;8216;negotiating space8217;8217; at the talks and had nothing whatsoever to do with football.