JAIPUR: Key state government departments such as industries and MSME, medical and health and panchayati raj have seen at least three heads in the last 16 months. Also, there have been 25 transfer/posting/appointment orders in the same period.
Constitutional experts and retired IAS officers believe it is the prerogative of the state government to carry out bureaucratic reshuffles and according to them it may hamper effective governance only in certain situations and in individual cases.
Ashutosh A T Pednekar (secretary), T Ravikanth (principal secretary) and now Veenu Gupta (additional chief secretary) have become the heads of industries and MSME in the last 1.4 years.
Meanwhile, the health and medical department has seen four heads in Akhil Arora (principal secretary), Siddharth Mahajan (secretary), Pednekar (secretary) and now Prithvi Raj. Also, the state’s panchayati raj department has seen three heads of department in Manju Rajpal, P C Kishan and now Naveen Jain.
On the other hand, IAS officers Ravikanth and Sreya Guha have held several posts in the last 1.9 years. Ravikanth had been secretary in-charge of finance (budget) and finance (revenue); principal secretary in-charge of finance (revenue) and industries/MSME. Now, he has been appointed as the managing director of the Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Prasaran Nigam Limited and chairperson of Rajasthan Renewable Energy Corporation Limited.
Guha had been principal secretary in-charge of tourism, art and culture; forest and environment, and now she has been made in-charge of cooperatives department.
Subhash C. Kashyap, constitutional expert and former secretary general of Lok Sabha said, “It is for the state government or the state cabinet to take a decision (on bureaucratic reshuffles). The government knows it best (when to transfer IAS officers). There are no rules preventing it (from carrying out bureaucratic reshuffles). One can question the propriety of it (the decision), but as far as I am concerned, I would leave it to the government.”
P. D. T. Achary, former secretary general of Lok Sabha said, “It is the prerogative of the government to shift the bureaucrats. The government is the best judge. They decide what is best in the interest of the smooth running of the government.”
On the question if it hampers the effective functioning of government, he said, “That depends on the nature of the reshuffle, if it is a very massive kind of exercise.”
