Shashank Shekhar out in cold, latest to fall out of Maya’s favour

On Sunday night, the Chief Minister upgraded her Principal Secretary, Information, V S Pandey to the post of Additional Cabinet Secretary, and ordered that all principal secretaries in the Chief Minister’s Office will hence on report to Pandey. Till now, they used to report to Singh.

While Singh refused to comment on the development on Monday, amid bureaucratic circles, the feeling is that the former pilot has been cut to size. He was the last man left from the team of officers who were appointed in the CMO soon after Mayawati became CM. One by one, all of them have been moved out — Shailesh Krishna, Rohit Nandan, V N Garg, Anup Chandra Pandey and V K Sharma.

In another blow to Singh, the Chief Minister announced the formation of a committee under BSP general secretary Satish Chandra Mishra to review the progress of all development schemes of the Government. Singh used to hold weekly review meetings of these schemes till now.

Without naming the officers who would be part of the new committee, Mayawati said she had kept very competent officers in it. She said this committee will hold weekly reviews, and she herself who would hold a monthly meeting.

Mayawati’s appointment of Shashank Shekhar Singh as the first-ever Cabinet Secretary of the state, making him the administrative head, had caused much resentment in the bureaucracy as the position has traditionally always belonged to the Chief Secretary.

While the IAS officers did not protest, a PIL was filed by a lawyer in the Supreme Court seeking cancellation of Singh’s appointment, arguing that it was unconstitutional and violated cadre rules.

The Government found a way around this by amending the Business Rules, again making the Chief Secretary the head of the administration.

“However, even after Singh ceased to be the administrative head, he kept calling the shots,” said a senior IAS officer, adding that the Principal Secretaries at CMO continued to report to the Cabinet Secretary.

After Sunday night’s order, remarked an officer, “Singh is neither the administrative head, nor can he summon the Principal Secretaries”.