BMC Is that correct ?
BMC is that correct what is going on? Heard in the 2022-23 Budget speech, Standing Committee chairman and now the one who is under Income Tax and ED raid for amassing huge wealth, Yashwant Jadhav, has been at the helm of introducing a new concept that is totally unheard of. The concept is weird and also I feel the need to ask if it is in sync with any of the guidelines of the Department of Personnel & Training or even All India Services? I don’t think so too, but readers, do read to know what has been proposed.
So, it is proposed now that all the Joint Commissioners or senior Deputy Municipal Commissioner’s (DMC’s) in the BMC will now be promoted and their powers and working periphery will now be equivalent to 4 IAS officers (Additional Municipal Commissioner) that are already posted now at the BMC. So instead of 4, now BMC will have 8 to 9 IAS officers with the exception being that the post of Joint Commissioner (GAD) will be promoted to that of IAS officer rank. But it is not clear that out of 4 original IAS officers, will 2 will be replaced by these new promotees OR additional 2 or 3 will be introduced as IAS in the system? What is the need for it, BMC? Already the ones who are the ‘real’ IAS officers, their work profiles have been reduced and a lot of portfolios, which had been equally divided when Ajoy Mehta was the Commissioner, have been divided and handed over to a couple of them . This transfer of powers to select few was done when Pravin Pardeshi was the Commissioner and when Jayashri Bhoj had joined in as the Additional Commissioner; we all knew that Pardeshi didn’t see eye-to-eye with Bhoj. So in order to curtail her powers, Pardeshi had removed most of her portfolio’s and transferred it to then ‘happening’ Ashutosh Saleel. The trend continues! Why can’t the portfolio distribution of works be equally divided amongst all 4 IAS (Additional Commissioners) of them equally?
Now with introduction of this ‘new concept and promoting the Joint Commissioners/DMC’s to IAS’, the otherwise direct IAS officers will be left with no or limited work. The ‘performer’ AMC Suresh Kakani is retiring in April this year. Heard one of the DMC’s (or Joint Commissioner) will occupy his post. These promotee’s will enjoy equal power and I am told, since a lot of money can be made under many portfolios which are ‘untapped’ such as transfers, this portfolio will go to any one of the new ones. Dear Mr. Chahal, you seem to be a reasonable man. Don’t let this mafia of ‘promotees’ grow. Else no one will opt for UPSC and none of the IAS Officers will ever want to come to BMC. By the way, Chahal Saab, all this is done with instructions from a retired officer sitting at CMO? I asked if it was Sudhir Naik, my source ran away listening to his name leaving me, huffing and puffing!
Otherwise too, I feel all 4 ‘real’ IAS officers should bring this to the notice of the new Chief Secretary and the Chief Minister and stop this promotion business. One more thing, these days Minister Aslam Sheikh is in solid form. Let this news go to him or any COngress leader. They will do the needful. But if this happens, God forbid, we won’t have one third grade Yashwant Jadhav, every Neta and Bureaucrat in the BMC (other than iAS) will be Yashwant Jadhav’s and BMC will be one big family trust enjoying our hard earned money.
Vikrant Hemant Joshi.
