HRD last lap runs into poll code

The Human Resource development ministry’s attempts to push through some key appointments in the last few days of the UPA government have hit a rough patch.

Updated on: Apr 30, 2009, 02:09:41 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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The Human Resource development ministry’s attempts to push through some key appointments in the last few days of the UPA government have hit a rough patch.

Most of the decisions have been put on hold, either by court or the cabinet secretariat.

While the cabinet secretariat has asked the ministry no to appointment new chairperson to the Central Board for Secondary Education (CBSE) and proceed with selection process for the vice-chairperson of University Grants Commission (UGC), the Delhi High Court on Wednesday questioned its sacking of National Open School chairperson M.C. Pant.

The ministry had proposed name of a Madhya Pradesh cadre IPS officer, Pragya Srivastava, for the post of CBSE chairperson.

The cabinet secretariat refused, cited the code of conduct and also questioned the selection process.

The secretariat had to step in again when questions were raised over a meeting held to select new UGC vice-chairperson.

It asked the ministry not to hold the selection committee’s next meeting on May 1, citing the poll code.

Three days ahead of the first phase of polling on April 16, the ministry sacked Pant, stating lack of supervision for certain schemes and named school secretary P. Bhist, an IPS officer, as in-charge.

Pant, whose term was to end after some months, moved court, which court told the government to consider his plea.

A senior government functionary said HRD ministry Arjun Singh appeared to be a man in hurry.

“He wants to take all decisions before the end of the term of the UPA government,” he said on the condition of anonymity.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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