OFF THE RECORD review on some of the headlines….
- Additional Collector Tejusingh Pawar and Minister Sanjay Rathod…
I don’t understand why people cannot work wherever they are given posting by the Government…Everyone tries to either stop, cancel or bring a stay on the order if it is not as per their likings. In this case, Additional Collector Tejusingh Pawar on the 15th of February of this year was sent from Bandra to Dhule…there must be some reason for this na? Either a lot of complaints or purely on the basis of merit, Tejusingh might be sent to Dhule…But this Tejusingh who already has ‘enjoyed’ his 3 years stint in Mumbai Collector office does not want to leave Mumbai…Kaise chalega Teju bhai? If everyone gets what they want, today our country’s happiness quotient would be higher, right? But now, see how Tejusingh approaches the game…this Tejusingh approaches Shiv Sena MLA now Minister of Soil and Water Conservation Sanjay Rathod for help him to stay in Mumbai…Technically, if I am not wrong, Tejusingh is from the Revenue department…what has a Minister who is looking after Soil and Water conservation, to do with an officer who is from altogether different department recommending him? But, Minister Sanjay Rathod goes out of the way (no I don’t think they are of same caste too) to write a letter addressing the CM Eknath Shinde, to stop this order and instead send this Tejusingh Pawar to MADC, Mumbai…CM Shinde as usual surprised, angered, keeps his calm and marks this letter to ACS Revenue “to check and revert”..Obviously this Pawar will now NOT go to Dhule but he will posted happily at MADC if CM Shinde decides to oblige his party men…I feel CM Shinde should now start saying a big NO to any of this unwarranted work…And by the way, what do you feel, why did Sanjay Rathod help Tejusingh Pawar? Because the wives are sisters, I heard…
Will Chahal, AMC’s Go or No?
Day before on my Twitter (X) account, I shared important information as to who will go where in terms of senior IAS officers postings adhering to the letter from Election Commission of India…I had mentioned, MC Iqbal Singh Chahal and PS to CM Bhushan Gagrani will exchange their posts, Pune Municipal Commissioner Vikram Kumar and AMC Kunal Khemnar might come to Mumbai and the likes of Additional Municipal Commissioners of the BMC, Velarasu, Ashiwni Bhide might have to go too…Also, AMC Sudhakar Shinde who has completed his deputation will be discussed as he is an IRS and somewhere I had read, that the IAS association have approached the Chief Minister to vacate his post for IAS…As for CEO SRA, there is a serious competition between Mahendra Kalyankar and Milind Borikar and even the name of Velarasu is discussed; Abhijit Bangar, who is Thane Municipal Commissioner, he too has completed 3 years in one district, someone told me that Thane Collector Shingare is interested in coming there…After saying all of this, will these changes really happen on the onset of Lok Sabha Elections? Let’s dig deeper…
The Maharashtra government made a few IAS transfers a week ago due to letters from the Election Commission of India (ECI). The first letter, directing the Chief Secretaries of all States and State Union territories was sent by the Election Commission of India on the 21st December, 2023 mentioning that (in PARA No 3) no officer connected DIRECTLY with elections shall be allowed to continue in the present district of posting if A) he/she is posted in home district B) if she/he has completed three years in that district during the last 4 years or would be completing 3 years on or before 30th June 2024…
Understand the fine line now…in this letter, there is also a point no 5 and 5.1 and 5.2 in which it did not cover the posts of Municipal Commissioners and Additional Municipal Commissioners, if they have to be transferred or not. But then a separate letter was sent by the ECI to Maharashtra Chief Secretary on the 22nd February, to include the MC and the AMC in the transfer list..hence the news of transfers of Chahal, Bhide and others started doing the rounds…My 2 questions below in this regard,
- Are Municipal Commissioners and Additional Municipal Commissioners, Returning Officers in our state ?
- And, if they are not, then are they directly connected with the elections ?
To this, as per my knowledge, the answer is NO…
If MC’s and AMC’s are Returning officers in Maharashtra, then surely these changes might happen which I have mentioned above. In a few Southern states of our country, Municipal Commissioners are Returning Officers who are changed if their terms are complete. The 22nd February letter of the ECI letter says that MCs & AMCs are also covered under para 5.2 of 21st Dec ’23 letter of the Commission. But, Para 5.2 has to be read with Para 3 of the said letter to understand the technicality.
Now since the MC and AMC are DIRECTLY NOT CONNECTED with elections, in no way it calls for their transfers even if they have completed 3 years. I think just by reading para 5.2 of 21st Dec ’23 letter, transfers are being contemplated. Let’s wait and watch for what unfolds in the coming days…
Jiski Laathi, Uski Bhais is the rule here…
Vikrant Hemant Joshi.
