Dilip Cherian | Mystery of the vanishing IAS: Shrinking turf, fall in muscle?

Is the hallowed “turf” of the IAS shrinking? Evidently, yes. In the years since the Modi Sarkar came to power, the IAS cadre at the joint secretary and additional secretary levels has noticeably shrunk. From 249 IAS officers in 2015 (from a total of 391 joint secretaries) to 2017, the number was down to a mere 77 in January this year. Similarly, the number of additional secretaries has reduced from 98 in 2015 to 76 this year.

The trend is ongoing. Just recently the government promoted 31 officers to additional and joint secretary ranks across ministries, but only 12 are IAS officers. The rest are from other services. This might give the impression that the Modi Sarkar is attempting to break the dominance of the IAS, but there is another pressing reason. It also wants to address the crunch of IAS officers available for Central deputation (covered by DKB in a previous column). Faced with this acute shortage the government may simply be making optimum use of officers from other cadres to fill the gap until the imbalance is corrected, most likely over the next couple of years. This “short-term” diversity may even be a good thing for now!

Babus lose another job

For the second time, the prestigious post of chief economic adviser has gone to a non-babu. Former chief economic adviser K.V. Subramanian is the new executive director for India at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) replacing Surjit Bhalla. According to the official order, Mr Subramanian’s appointment, which is for the full term of three years, has been done “by curtailing the tenure of Dr Surjit S Bhalla…”

The language of the order is what set tongues wagging. The wording suggested that Mr Bhalla was turfed out to make way for Mr Subramanian. Mr Bhalla was in Delhi and must have heard about his successor only when he landed in Washington, DC. Some of those who know about such matters however urge not to read too much in Mr Bhalla’s exit. Apparently, executive directors are elected by the IMF board and Mr Bhalla had served out his three-year term, as many others before him. Blame poor drafting by someone for the needless controversy!

Meanwhile, Mr Bhalla’s successor has an unenviable record. Not much was known about him before he was named chief economic adviser. Babus in Delhi are wondering whether his patrons who got him the job in the finance ministry continue to wield the considerable influence he used to, or if there is an acute shortage of those who can parrot the finance ministry’s views.

And, of course, this is another plum post that now seems to be out of bounds for turf-hugging babus.

Wait for a full-time ONGC chief gets a bit longer

The search and selection committee to appoint the new head for the Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC) recently called nine candidates for an interview but only six turned up. ONGC’s outgoing chief Alka Mittal, who has been holding the post as an additional charge, chose not to appear before the panel. The committee will take another two or three months to complete the process. 

Until then, most babu observers say, the state-owned ONGC will have to make do with a third interim chairperson, surely a record. The government has been unable to find a full-time chief of the country’s most profitable company in the 17 months since the post fell vacant when Shashi Shanker superannuated in March last year. Since then, the company has been steered by Subhash Kumar and then Ms Mittal, both from ONGC management. The most likely interim head seems to be R.K. Srivastava, director (exploration) since he is the senior-most director.

Curiously, the selection committee headed by PESB chief Mallika Srinivasan includes petroleum secretary Pankaj Jain and former Indian Oil chairman B. Ashok. It was set up in February but started work only this month! Among those who appeared for the interview were BPCL chairman A.K. Singh and Engineers India Ltd head Vartika Shukla.

Meanwhile, it may also be useful to remember that besides ONGC, at least 20 PSEs are currently without full-time heads.