Costly first impressions

A 1998-batch IAS officer of Manipur cadre,Rajesh Kumar chose an utterly wrong time and place to speak his mind. He was recently empanelled as a Joint Secretary and posted in the Panchayati Raj Ministry. The officer sought an appointment with minister Mani Shankar Aiyar for an introductory meeting and during the informal chit-chat,he apparently said he wasnt very excited to be posted in the ministry as he did not think there was much to be done. Aiyar,whose love for Panchayati Raj is well-known,was clearly not happy to hear this and wrote to his senior colleague P Chidambaram,a member of the Appointments Committee of Cabinet,saying officers with such pessimistic attitude should not be posted in his ministry. Chidambaram forwarded the note to the Prime Minister,recommending that the officer be repatriated to his state. Last week,the PMO approved the repatriation orders of Kumar,who has been debarred from a central deputation for five years. Now that Aiyar has lost the elections,Kumar would probably think that providence has extracted sweet revenge.