RETIRED, BUT STILL IN POWER…
Maharashtra’s Mahamandals cannot become parking lots for retired babus and permanent homes for deputed officers. There is something deeply wrong with a system where retirement from government service does not necessarily mean retirement from government power. The Chief Secretary has now ordered government employees who were brought into ministers’ offices through irregular deputation, loan or attachment arrangements to return to their parent departments.
Good. But I have one question for the Chief Secretary:
Why stop there? Why leave Vidhan Bhavan, office of Speaker, Office of Deputy Speaker, Office of the Chairman from this Mr. CS?
There is another parallel world of government establishments that deserves an equally hard look — Maharashtra’s Mahamandals, Corporations and Development Bodies. These organisations were created for a purpose: to promote entrepreneurship, provide finance, create opportunities, develop communities and deliver public programmes. But over the years, some appear to have acquired a different reputation — as comfortable destinations for government officers who have spent years away from their parent departments, and, more worryingly, as places where retired government servants can continue their second innings in positions of power.
The question is not whether every post-retirement appointment is illegal. The question is much simpler:
Why is a retired babu still occupying a government-funded position?
And if a serving government employee has been sent to a Mahamandal on deputation or loan basis for two years, how does that become five, seven or ten years? At what point does a temporary arrangement stop being temporary? The first 10 that need scrutiny
I would begin with:
- Maha Mumbai Metro Operation Corporation Ltd. (MMMOCL)
- PROTOCOL DEPARTMENT (Airport)
- Annasaheb Patil Economic Backward Development Corporation
- Sahityaratna Lokshahir Annabhau Sathe Development Corporation
- Mahatma Phule Backward Class Development Corporation
- Maharashtra State Other Backward Classes Finance & Development Corporation
- Vasantrao Naik Vimukta Jati & Nomadic Tribes Development Corporation
- Maulana Azad Minority Economic Development Corporation
- Shabari Adivasi Finance & Development Corporation
- Sant Rohidas Leather Industries & Charmakar Development Corporation — LIDCOM
- Mahila Arthik Vikas Mahamandal — MAVIM
These are not imaginary entities. They are part of Maharashtra’s extensive ecosystem of corporations and Mahamandals. The Social Justice Department itself lists Mahatma Phule, Annabhau Sathe and LIDCOM among its corporations, while the Other Backward Classes department lists several economic development corporations. The Planning Department also lists Annasaheb Patil and newer community-specific economic development corporations under its programmes. (Maharashtra Social Justice Department)
MMMOCL, meanwhile, is a government-established corporation created in 2019 to operate and maintain Mumbai Metropolitan Region metro corridors. (MMRDA). The question for the Chief Secretary is not whether these corporations are useful. Of course they are. The question is whether they are being allowed to become retirement homes for bureaucracy.Imagine a 58-year-old government officer retiring from service.The taxpayer has paid his salary for decades. He retires. And then, instead of making way for younger talent, he is brought back into another government establishment — with a designation, office, staff, vehicle, driver, remuneration and, most importantly, access to power.
Why?
And what happens to the younger officers who have spent years waiting for an opportunity? The same scrutiny should apply to serving officers. If a babu belongs to Department A, why has he been sitting in Corporation B for eight years?
Who approved the original deputation?
What was the permitted tenure?
How many extensions were granted?
Who signed them?
And why was the officer not sent back to his parent department?
These are not trivial administrative questions.
They go to the heart of accountability and corruption. Because the longer an individual remains embedded in the same institution, the more networks, relationships and vested interests can develop. Fresh people bring fresh questions.
Chief Secretary, please look here
The Maharashtra Government does not need another grand committee.
It needs a simple audit.
Take the first ten corporations. Prepare a list of every employee:
Age.
Date of retirement.
Parent department.
Current designation.
Date of deputation.
Original sanctioned tenure.
Number of extensions.
Current remuneration.
Government vehicles and facilities.
Authority that approved the appointment.
Then ask one brutally simple question:
Why is this person still here? If the answer is legitimate, put it on record. If the answer is merely that “he has always been here”, that should no longer be good enough.
Maharashtra’s Mahamandals need fewer entrenched interests and more fresh thinking. They need young officers, professionals and administrators who can look at old problems with new eyes. They need people who will question the system rather than become part of it. The objective should not be to throw out every experienced officer. Experience matters. But experience cannot become an excuse for permanent occupancy of power. The Chief Secretary has already opened the door to cleaning up irregular postings in ministers’ offices. Now, perhaps, it is time to walk through the next door.
Look inside the Mahamandals.
Send every retired babu’s file for scrutiny.
Review every long-running deputation.
Review every extension.
Review every loan posting.
And where the rules permit no such continuation, send them home.
Because government corporations were created to serve citizens.
They were never meant to become places where babus discover that retirement is optional.
–Vikrant Meena Hemant Joshi
