PM Modi transforms babudom, signals achhe din for ’84 and ’85 batch IAS officers

The number of officers from a single batch of civil servants getting top jobs has got shrunk as the centre recently empanelled officers from 1984 and 1985 batches of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) as secretaries.

This has resulted in three officers – Ajay Prakash Sawhney (1984 batch: Andhra Pradesh cadre), Usha Sharma (1985 batch: Rajasthan cadre) and Sanjeev Ranjan (1985 batch: Tripura cadre) – getting unprecedented tenures as secretaries. Ajay Prakash, who is at present additional secretary, ministry of petroleum and natural gas, will be secretary till February 2022.

Usha Rai will continue be in service at the top job till 2023 in one of the longest tenures as secretary. Sanjeev Ranjan will also be secretary till 2023.

Some of the top ministries like home and defence have fixed terms of two years for secretaries. The selection for the secretary-level jobs has become tough as Prime Minister Narendra Modi believes in 360 degree profiling of the officers. Many believe it may be arbitrary but the government is going ahead with the move to get a feedback on the officers.

A news website tracking the bureaucratic movements reported that top bureaucrats like Vivek Rae, serving in the Seventh Pay Commission, former chief secretary and chief vigilance commissioner of Gujarat, Manjula Subram­anyam were among those who gave feedback on the officers awaiting empanelment for secretary-level positions.

The 1984 batch has a strength of 123 officers and the 1985 batch of 146. There has been a view favouring longer terms for secretaries in the Union government. It was felt that the existing practice of giving a two-year fixed term is not adequate as it is too short a period to drive policy initiatives from the top. The secretaries will be given more time to execute the plans if they have longer terms at the helm.

There are 17 officers from the 1984 batch who have been empanelled as secretaries. The number is 20 from the 1985. The number of officers empanelled as secretaries has come down significantly. For instance, 31 officers from the 1983 batch had made it to the top position while 28 officers from 1982 batch had become secretaries.

There is a primary difference between empanelment as a full-time secretary or secretary equivalent. The full-time secretaries head ministries while others are appointed as heads of various government bodies and organisations. Those with longer residual services are generally empanelled as secretaries.

The subtle changes in the appointment rules have disturbed the peace in the bureaucratic circles. The Modi government had emphasised from the beginning that it will transform the functioning of Delhi’s complex bureaucratic set up.

The officials said that the Prime Minister is extremely careful about the choice of officers. He has been regularly interacting with bureaucrats who form the backbone of the government’s delivery machinery. With the success of several flagship schemes of the government dependent on bureaucrats, a comprehensive due diligence process has come into practice for the selection.