AP government shortlists 38 names from 10 different fields for the Padma Awards 2014,
Picture for representational purpose only.
Hyderabad: The state government’s screening committee has shortlisted 38 names from 10 different fields for the Padma Awards 2014, which will be conferred on January 26. An RTI application has revealed serious lapses in these recommendations. The application sought to know how these names have been shortlisted and by who.
The screening committee had originally shortlisted 35 names, but pressure from politicians resulted in the addition and deletion of some names. Some MPs recommended 10 or 12 people. And the CM exerted pressure to reconsider four nominations that were rejected by the committee.
A major lapse is the lack of a search committee, which is mandated by the government of India. This committee makes the first shortlist and forwards it to the screening committee, which will further scrutinise it. Since there is no search committee, the screening committee did the work.
“When a similar procedure was followed in Rajasthan, the list was rejected,” said M. Padmanabha Reddy, secretary, Forum For Good Governance, who had sought the information through RTI. “In AP, the letter of the government of India was forwarded routinely to the concerned secretaries and departments for recommendations. The process of awarding the highest civilian awards was very casual.”
Next: Padma procedure ignored
Padma procedure ignored
Hyderabad: Information elicited thro-ugh RTI show that 56 proposals were received by August 30, 2013, and a further 17 names were added to the list of names shortlisted for Padma awards, making it 73 by August 31, 2013. The screening committee shortlisted 35 names on September 30, 2013.
“There are no minutes of the meeting, no reasons mentioned for elimination and no transparency in the whole process,” says Padmanabhaiah, an RTI activist.
On October 10, 2013, on the instructions of Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, B.V.R. Mohan Reddy’s name was added to the list of 35 names. A letter from Ajeya Kallam, principal secretary to the CM, reads, “He also suggested to delete few names if possible and send the list at the CS level.”
“It is obvious from the notings in the file that the Chief Minister had deliberately interfered and exerted pressure on the scrutinising committee in four nominations — Dr Mohan Vamsy, Dr Kalpalatha, Dr Suryanarayana Raju and Mohan Kanda. These names were rejected by the scrutinising committee.
He also overruled the recommendation of the scrutinising committee by giving orders for inclusion of the nominations of Dr Kammela Sreedhar and Dr Vijay Anand Reddy to be sent to GoI,” said Padmanabha Reddy.
( Source : dc )
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