Muhammad Mukaram
Early Times Report
SRINAGAR, Oct 20: In an apparent U-turn on its policy of no re-employment of former officials, the PDP-BJP coalition regime has given a three-year extension to senior IAS officer Khurshid Ganai two months before his retirement.
Ganai is one of the senior IAS officers in Jammu and Kashmir who had protested against the elevation of BR Sharma as Chief Secretary after Iqbal Khanday's voluntary retirement.
To protest Sharma's appointment, who is junior to Ganai, the latter had gone on a three-month leave. He was scheduled to retire later this year.
"Although Ganai, a 1982 batch IAS officer, had gone on leave, the Government has given him another assignment," a source told Early Times.
A senior Cabinet Minister said, "We need his service, that is why we thought to re-employ him."
Sources said Government's decision of re-employing Ganai has evoked sharp criticism from a section of the bureaucracy.
"There is a contradiction in Government's policies. While it cites financial crunch as a reason for not filling thousands of vacancies in different departments, it has no problem in re-employing its blue-eyed officials who get fat salaries," said a senior officer in the Planning Department.
Ganai, who was serving as Financial Commissioner, Industries & Commerce Department, was on Monday transferred and posted as Chairman, Bureau of Public Enterprises.
"It is further ordered that the post of the Chairman, Bureau of Public Enterprises is declared equivalent in status to the IAS cadre post of Chief Secretary, in terms of Rule 9(1) of the IAS (Pay) Rules, 1954, for the period it is held by Ganai, IAS," a Cabinet order said. |
