In January this year, a major reshuffle of over two dozen bureaucrats, including some senior IAS officers and district collectors, was the talk of the town. But an informal meeting of six bureaucrats belonging from SCs and STs on Monday to discuss the ‘raw deal’ at the hands of the government came as a surprise.
If sources are to be believed, the officers — Director of State Archives A.Murali, Director of Employment K.Y.Naik, joint secretaries Bharati Lakhpati Naik, Champalal and Sharman and Planning Board Secretary Shiv Kumar Naidu met Special Chief Secretary B.R. Meena.
The core issue that the officers discussed why they have been shifted from focal to non-focal postings. Incidentally, Mr. Murali and Champalal served as Collectors of Jayashankar Bhupalpalli and Kumram Bheem Asifabad districts but were shunted out and posted to “insignificant departments”.
Insignificant posts
“We feel unhappy and sad that we have been given postings of little consequence,” an IAS officer, who attended the meeting said pointing out that “he was unable to understand why such treatment was meted out to them.” Asked if they planned to meet the Chief Secretary to air their grievances, the officer said there was nothing on the cards.
However, it is not a section of the SC/ST officers who are upset, but some others also share the same feeling. A senior IAS officer, who was transferred in January to an “insignificant post” said: “Discontent is brewing among the bureaucrats. Some of us are feeling run down. We are not properly evaluated and our performance is not assessed. Competency and performance has never been taken into consideration,” the officer rued.
Another officer noted that cadre superiority and seniority has been given a burial. “Earlier, all Chief Ministers used to follow certain norms and conventions but that has now been thrown to winds. There is no grievance handling machinery for the bureaucrats,” the officer said.
However, speaking to The Hindu, Chief Secretary S.K. Joshi said that the reported discontent among a section of SC, ST IAS officers was news to him and none approached him with any grievance. “I am very accessible and no one has come to me so far with any complaint,” he said.
Dismissing the perception that some posts are more important than the rest and some are considered to be plum postings, sources said that all departments were important in the government and each department was created for a specific purpose for better governance and service delivery.
Matter of perception
Contrary to the allegation that SC, ST officers were being discriminated, there are many SC, ST officers who are also in the so called plum postings, they pointed out. Caste or community will not play a role in assigning a post or department to an officer. What matters is their aptitude, efficiency and track record . “There is no question of any one being sidelined on the basis of caste,” highly placed sources said.
An IAS officer admitted that there was some reluctance to head Social Welfare and SC Development Department. “But I worked for two years and we could do satisfying work and help the downtrodden. It is a question of individual perception,” he said.
Nevertheless, a senior bureaucrat admitted that such a perception existed among some IAS officers that they were kept in non-focal posts for too long and their services were not being properly utilised. “There are some departments which implement lot of development oriented programmes and there are few without much work. But one should be prepared to work wherever one is posted and wait for an opportunity. It is government’s prerogative and one will not always get posting of ones choice,” a bureaucrat said.
On preference being given to non-Telangana officers in important posts, a bureaucrat said it happens both ways. There are some Telangana and non-Telangana officers as well in the loop line.