Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh authorities’s determination to present a uncommon second one-year extension to chief secretary D.S. Mishra, thought-about the Modi authorities’s level particular person in Lucknow, alerts a change in chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s strategy, bureaucrats in Delhi and Lucknow have informed ThePrint.
Forward of Uttar Pradesh’s World Traders Summit 2023 (GIS-2023) in February, seen to be essential for Yogi’s $ 1 trillion greenback economic system aim, the CM didn’t need to ship any flawed alerts by letting go of the “Centre’s man” in Lucknow, ThePrint has learnt.
A senior bureaucrat in Lucknow informed ThePrint that the Yogi authorities had despatched two names — together with Mishra’s — to the Modi authorities for consideration. The central authorities cleared Mishra’s extension Friday— a day earlier than his earlier extension was set to finish.
Bureaucrats see it as a uncommon and “one-of-its-kind” case {that a} chief secretary has been given two extensions — that, too, for a 12 months every.
In December 2021, the Narendra Modi authorities’s sudden determination to repatriate then Union Housing Secretary Mishra to his house cadre “for his proposed appointment as (UP) Chief Secretary” had the political and bureaucratic circles abuzz. The transfer was seen because the Modi authorities foisting its factors particular person on prime of the administration in UP. It was additionally seen because the central authorities’s try and maintain a leash on the UP authorities.
Then CS R.Ok. Tiwari, who was near the CM, had two years left however Yogi needed to settle for the Modi authorities’s alternative then.
Mishra’s tenure as CS has been largely uneventful because the CM selected to perform by a set of bureaucrats near him.
With the decision-making centred on the CMO and the CM getting issues completed by his trusted bureaucrats, the CS’s workplace in Lucknow has been left to take care of routine administrative jobs, say bureaucrats in UP.
“It doesn’t matter if he will get one other extension. The position Cupboard Secretary performs in Delhi, the CS performs in Lucknow too. Principally, it’s in regards to the PMO and the CMO,” a senior bureaucrat from UP cadre informed ThePrint. “CM Yogi has proven political maturity by persevering with with Mishra. Opposite to the notion about Mishra being the Modi authorities’s eyes and ears in Lucknow, he’s comfortable doing what he’s requested to. He hasn’t given Yogi any purpose to really feel alarmed.”
Earlier than his repatriation, Mishra had been housing and concrete affairs secretary within the Ministry of City Growth — a put up he held for greater than three years.
He was additionally appointed because the chief resident commissioner of UP earlier this 12 months.
Mishra, who shared the information of his extension on Twitter on Saturday, informed ThePrint that the order from the Division of Personnel & Coaching got here Friday night.
“My precedence will likely be to make sure four-sided improvement of the state and the implementation of welfare schemes on the bottom following the imaginative and prescient of the PM to make sure the welfare of individuals,” he mentioned.
The event additionally comes at a time when the extension given to a bureaucrat in Manipur, one other BJP-ruled state, has come beneath scrutiny. The six-month extension given to Manipur Chief Secretary Rajesh Kumar for the second time has drawn criticism from Opposition Congress.
Additionally Learn: Yogi’s level man on legislation & order, IAS Awanish Awasthi made ‘advisor to CM’ 15 days after retirement
‘Unusually lengthy, extraordinary’
Former bureaucrats ThePrint spoke to known as the event “unprecedented” and “unusually lengthy”, particularly within the gentle of All India Service guidelines.
Rule quantity 16 (1) of the All India Providers (Dying-Cum-Retirement Advantages) Guidelines, 1958, says that “A member of the service holding the put up of chief secretary to a state authorities could also be given extension of service for a interval not exceeding six months on the suggestions made by the involved state authorities with full justification and in public curiosity, with the prior approval of the central authorities”.
Former bureaucrat E.A.S Sarma informed ThePrint that though extensions aren’t good “in precept”, they’re normally given for a brief length — for six months to even a 12 months.
“An extension for one 12 months has been given in lots of situations however I don’t assume it’s ever been given for 2 years. Two years is much too lengthy,” Sarma, a former secretary on the Ministry of Finance, informed ThePrint.
The thought behind the six-month rule is to keep away from lengthy extensions, he mentioned.
“What the federal government does is that they offer a number of six-month extensions to beat the rule. Take a look at the put up of the Enforcement Directorate chief. It’s a really delicate put up however they’re giving extensions identical to that,” he mentioned.
Jawhar Sircar, a retired IAS officer who served because the Chief Govt Officer of India’s state-owned broadcaster Prasar Bharati, informed ThePrint that whereas giving Mishra a second one-year extension didn’t go in opposition to service guidelines, it might result in “ending off the All India Civil providers.”
“The providers observe a really strict circulatory system in order that an officer doesn’t have any vested pursuits cropping up besides throughout the quick tenure she or he is there. Normally, governments be certain that bureaucrats don’t get very lengthy tenures,” Sircar, now a Rajya Sabha MP from the Trinamool Congress, informed ThePrint.
The newest improvement highlights Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “nervousness” and exhibits how he goes “just for the folks he is aware of”, he mentioned.
“Secondly, it demoralises the providers as a result of the queue (of officers) stops there,” he added.
A UP authorities official additionally informed ThePrint that Mishra’s extension of service is “a one-of-a-kind occasion within the historical past of Indian forms.”
“So far as I can recall, this has not occurred earlier than,” the official mentioned.
Additionally Learn: Why Allahabad HC quashed UP govt order on OBC quota in civic polls — ‘state on flawed aspect of legislation’
‘PMO stamp’
Throughout his tenure on the central authorities, Mishra has overseen a number of key schemes, together with the Modi authorities’s bold and controversial Central Vista redevelopment challenge.
Among the many a number of flagship initiatives that had been applied beneath Mishra’s tenure had been the Swachh Bharat Mission and the Good Cities Mission, in addition to the launch of metro rail methods in a number of Indian cities — together with Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Nagpur, and Kanpur.
Mishra’s extension as chief secretary comes at a major time for Uttar Pradesh — not solely is the state gearing up for the buyers’ summit, however additionally it is getting ready to carry municipal elections early this 12 months.
It additionally comes with the 2024 basic elections somewhat over a 12 months away.
Mishra met UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath Friday — quickly after rumours of his extension started doing the rounds. At the moment, the CMO known as it a “courtesy assembly”.
One other UP official informed ThePrint on the situation of anonymity that the Yogi authorities has grown more and more accepting of Mishra.
“His acceptance has grown these days, not solely as a result of he has the PMO stamp but additionally as a result of he’s seen as a delivery-oriented man whose interference within the working of the CMO is proscribed,” the official mentioned. “Plus, holding the GIS-2023 easily is considered one of their most important priorities proper now.”
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
Additionally Learn: ‘Bhagirath-like effort wanted’ as Yogi 2.0 revives trillion-dollar economic system dream for UP