Vasudevan loses out to Bongirwar

While the members on the board are political nominees, it was for the first time in the recent past that an Indian Administrative Service official of the stature of Vasudevan has been appointed on the board.

Ever since his repatriation to the state cadre, Vasudevan had staked claim on the Chief Secretary’s post on the ground that he is senior most bureaucrat.

Vasudevan belongs to the 1964 batch, Bongirwar belongs to the 1966 batch. Following the plea submitted by Vasudevan, even Municipal Commissioner V Rangnathan (1965 batch) and K C Srivastava (1966) batch informally made known to the Chief Minister that they were also keen for the coveted post.

Apparently, Vilasrao Deshmukh did not attach much importance to the claims of Vasudevan, Rangnathan as well as Srivastava on the ground that among the four bureaucrats, Bongirwar was well versed with the bureaucracy as well as state problems.

According to a senior official, the general administration department had drafted two proposals – Officer on Special Duty (Maharashtra State Electricity Board) or Special Commissioner, government of Maharashtra, New Delhi for Vasudevan.While offering him the post of OSD, the Congress-led Democratic Front government was considering to entrust him with the task of overseeing the trifurcation of the crisis-ridden MSEB.

On Tuesday, when Vasudevan called on the Chief Minister, he was offered the post of Member, State Planning Board. While Vasudevan was not available for comments, it was not known whether he has accepted the post or otherwise.“In his capacity as the Member of the state planning board, he will have very little work. We are not sure, if we will be able to provide him office space or secretarial staff, since the board members are not entitled for such facilities,’’ the official said.

The only saving grace for Vasudevan, the official said, was that he will not be required to report to Arun Bongirwar, since the board is headed by the Chief Minister. Either he will have to report to Deshmukh or Ratnakar Mahajan, Executive Chairman of the board, he added.