Corporation heads set to roll in UP

A Day after undoing major decisions taken by her predecessor Mulayam Singh Yadav, Chief Minister Mayawati on Monday presided over a meeting of the state cabinet. By the end of the meeting, the cabinet had decided to convene the session of the state legislature from May 21, remove the heads of various corporations appointed during the previous regime and approved a transfer policy for senior IAS, IPS and other officers.

New members will be appointed on May 17 and 18 and a new assembly Speaker will be elected on May 18. Meanwhile, senior advocate Jyotendra Mishra has been appointed the state’s new advocate general.

Cabinet Secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh later told mediapersons that only four out of the 64 politically appointed chairmen had put in their papers, adding that those who have not yet resigned would be removed through a government order. He also said that the Uttar Pradesh Development Council would be scrapped, as announced earlier.

The cabinet has also decided to carry out minimum transfers, the secretary said. Elaborating, he said that a system has been put in place to effectively check corruption and frequent transfers. The chief minister herself will carry out the transfers of IAS officers of the rank of principal secretary and above and of IPS officers of the rank of ADG and above. The Service Establishment Boards will make recommendations on IAS and IPS officers below these ranks as well as PCS officers, Singh said, adding that the cabinet secretary will be the final authority to approve these recommendations.

The boards were set up way back in 2002, following a demand by the UP IAS Association, UP IPS Association and other such associations. Later, the government filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court assuring fixed tenures for IAS and PCS officers. However, the boards have been lying defunct as successive chief ministers have not cared much for their recommendations.

Singh said the transfers of officers of the rank of joint director and above will be carried out by ministers while those of Class-1 officers will be carried out by the principal secretaries and secretaries of respective departments. In the case of Class-II officers, the respective heads of department will be the final authority. An officer below the rank of HoD will be responsible for the transfer of the remaining categories of personnel, he added.

Email Author: umeshraghuvanshi@hindustantimes.com