NEW DELHI: Speculation about “who will succeed Naresh Chandra “as Cabinet Secretary has been fuelled/afresh with the Government sending the senior most contender for the post-M.M Rajendra, Sectary, Youth Affairs and Sports-back to his parent cadre of Tamil Nadu.

“Recently the Government had “shifted the second contender for the post, Mahesh Prasad, from his post of Secretary, Information and Broadcasting to the Bureau of Industrial Costs and Prices as its Chairman.

With Rajendran and Mahesh Prasad out of the way, only one man in the 1957 IAS batch is now a contender for the post S.Rajagopal, Secretary in the Power Department.

But it is Geethakrishnan, a bureaucrat from the 1958 batch who is being tipped to succeed Naresh Chandra when he retires in July.

In Geethakrishnan’s batch, Zafar Saifullah, currently Secretary, Minority Commission, is placed above him but is not considered to be a hot contender in the race.

That is ironic since Saifullah and the next senior bureaucrat, Mira Seth, Secretary in the Department of Women and Child Development, should fit the bill, given the Prime Minister’s expressed concern for women and the depressed sections. The country has never had a Cabinet Secretary from the Minorities nor a woman for that matter.

But as official sources pointed Out, the considerations for appointing a Cabinet Secretary are different. What is looked for is varied experience, and Saifullah’s extended tenure in his home state is held against him, despite his reputation for being bright and dynamic. The same argument holds for Seth.

In any case, say official sources, the latest round of shuffling did not disqualify any officer from selection as the senior most bureaucrat. B.G. Deshmukh was the Chief Secretary in Maharashtra when Rajiv Gandhi picked him as Cabinet Secretary, they point out.

As for Rajendran, official sources say, his services have been placed at the disposal of the Tami! Nadu Government at the latter’s request. Rajendran, who was ‘the Chief Secretary of Tamil Nadu, had fallen foul of the previous DMK Government and had come to the center. It will be interesting to see what post, Jayalalitha will create for an officer who has already Served as Chief Secretary.

In Mahesh Prasad’s case, sources Said, his posting to the BICP was Hot to put him out of the contention, nor did it have anything to do with his publicized differences with Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Ajit Panja.

Prasad’s background in economics and finance in particular his tenure in the Industry and Commerce Ministries, was taken into consideration while making him chairman of the BICP, which sources said will be restructured into a commission on administered prices, tariffs and public utilities.

They drew attention to the Finance Minister’s announcement in his Budget speech in this regard. The BICP, under Mahesh Prasad, will work as a transparent mechanism for determining administered prices and also recommend a pricing policy for state utilities. The Government was considering the feasibility of upgrading the BICP by widening its mandate.

 

Article extracted from this publication >> June 5, 1992