Secys’ reshuffle — one sulks, the other gloats

Sarma apparently learnt of his transfer only through the morning’s papers. He has gone on protest leave and is believed to be thinking of resigning from the IAS because of the “shabby” treatment meted out to an officer of his seniority.

While Sarma’s is an open rebellion, the appointment of Industrial Policy and Promotion Secretary Ajit Kumar as Finance Secretary has surprised many. Apart from the fact that he is considered a novice in the economic field (the closest he came to handling a finance job was as financial advisor in the Commerce Industries Ministry many years ago), Kumar’s reputation is clouded by the unhappy experience of two ministers with whom he worked recently, Defence Minister George Fernandes and Industries Minister Murasoli Maran.

Kumar ran into trouble with Fernandes when he was Secretary Defence Production and was shifted to the Industries Ministry at George’s insistence. The story repeated itself with Maran who is understood to have been asking the Prime Minister for some time to give him a new Secretary.

Given this background, the decision to give Kumar a key job like finance in the run up to next year’s budget has perplexed official as well as political circles. According to highly placed government sources, the debate over his appointment delayed the release of the list till close to midnight yesterday.

The sources said that the unexpected holdup led to confusion last night and in the process some Secretaries could not be informed about their impending transfer. As a result, at least two Secretaries, including Sarma, received a shock when they read the newspapers this morning.

This Government, however, appears to specialise in mystifying appointments. The outgoing Finance Secretary Piyush Mankad was as inexperienced in economic matters as his successor, Ajit Kumar, and Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha had conveyed his unhappiness on this issue several times to the Prime Minister’s Office.

However, despite the complaints against him, Mankad has been assured of a post-retirement job next year as India’s Executive Director on the Board of the Asian Development Bank. He will go to Manila in June at around the time Prasad retires, thus paving the way for an officer of the 1965 IAS batch to take over as Cabinet Secretary.