:: Dilip Cherian

Cops and robbers

By Dilip Cherian

Apr 05 : The parity between IAS and IPS cadres brought about by the Sixth Pay Commission after a grim battle fought by the IPS association now seems to be under threat once again. At least this is what IPS officers fear. Apparently, the men in khaki believe that the government is all set to clear a proposal to give chief secretaries at the Centre a higher salary slab of Rs 85,000 per month. This proposal, if cleared by the Cabinet, would undo the recently attained parity in the civil services and restore the previous position where IAS babus got a higher salary than their IPS counterparts.

The agitated IPS officers, sources say, are trying to preempt the move and reportedly have already approached higher-rank functionaries from the service to intervene. As of now, chief secretaries and secretaries get the same salary as state police chiefs and directors of the Central police organisations — a fixed salary of Rs 80,000 per month. Though officials in the department of personnel and training deny any such attempts to re-create a bias between the IPS and IAS officers, the men in khaki remain unconvinced. So we can expect a few more rounds of sparring among the tribesmen. Watch this space for updates.

***

Hiring outsiders

various attempts to attract professionals and experts from the private sector to regulatory bodies have failed to make a dent. Hopes were raised when the Sixth Pay Commission raised the salaries for chairmen of all regulatory bodies. But evidently there are few serious takers. And which is why my favourite tribesmen are holding down positions which should ideally be with domain experts.

Despite the government initially announcing that senior posts at the regulatory bodies were open to all, yet it has somehow ended up installing IAS babus. The appointment of Dhanendra Kumar, a retired IAS officer, as the chairman of the Competition Commission of India is the most recent example, observers say. Earlier P.H. Kurian, a career bureaucrat, was named the new Comptroller General of Patents (CGP), reopening the old specialist versus generalist debate in sarkari circles. Noted Right to Information (RTI) activist Arvind Kejriwal is now seeking information on senior appointments to see whether they meet the "suitability" conditions of the government.

In the pipeline is the appointment of the new Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) chief. Will he be another babu? Has Johny Joseph’s interview signalled it stays firmly with the IAS?