Personal secretaries of 4 Shiv Sena, NCP ministers transferred
The PSes, who are class I government officers appointed by ministers from various departments, were rejected by the chief minister’s office during scrutiny in the past, despite which they continued to work for the ministers for several months
Mumbai: The Maharashtra government’s general administration department (GAD), headed by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, has transferred the personal secretaries (PSes) of four ministers from the Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) to their parent departments due to their dubious personal records, according to officials aware of the developments.
The PSes, who are class I government officers appointed by ministers from various departments, were rejected by the chief minister’s office (CMO) during scrutiny in the past, despite which they continued to work for the ministers for several months, officials said.
Earlier this week, the GAD issued letters to the PSes of food and civil supplies minister Chhagan Bhujbal (NCP), tourism minister Shambhuraj Desai, soil and water conservation minister Sanjay Rathod, and water supply minister Gulabrao Patil (all three Shiv Sena) to immediately return to their respective departments, said an official from the department, requesting anonymity. Two of them have already reported back to the departments from which they were recruited by the ministers.
“The four officers were rejected by the CMO previously, despite which they continued to work [with the ministers],” said the official. “The GAD sent them show-cause notices last week, to which they responded. They had said that they were working with the minister on their request, and the ministers had requested the respective departments for the officers. The CMO took a firm stand, saying that they have been working illegally and without the formal order and approval from the CM. In the order issued two days ago, they were asked to go back to their respective department immediately.”
The official said that these officers were illegally signing files and letters, which amounts to a serious breach of rules. In the absence of official orders, they were also working without a salary for months, he added.
Every minister has one PS and three officers on special duty (OSDs) each. Of the 164 officers with 41 ministers, 129 have been approved by the CMO.
Four more requests for PSes from other ministers are under scrutiny, the official said. “Other cases are of OSDs, and they are being cleared in batches after thorough scrutiny,” he added. The CMO had rejected at least 15 more officers in the past due to their dubious records and had asked the ministers to recommend other names to replace them.
After taking charge in December, Fadnavis had made it mandatory to get the names of the PSes and OSDs approved by his office. This was after the chief minister was apprised about the “infestation of middlemen” in Mantralaya, who were promoted by PSes of the ministers from the previous Mahayuti government headed by the Shiv Sena’s Eknath Shinde. Fadnavis had said that his government would not tolerate the administration being hijacked by middlemen, said the official.
Following this diktat, the CMO rejected many officers who had worked with ministers in the previous Mahayuti government on the basis of their dubious records in the past. The CMO’s decisions were based on reports taken from the intelligence department of the police, internal inquiries, complaints against them and their confidential reports. Many “heavyweight” officials who were in demand from ministers for various reasons were rejected by the CMO despite political pressure.
