IAS POST: HRY SHORTLISTS NETAS’ KIN
16 candidates fulfilled eligibility conditions, five shortlisted; at least 3 with outstanding ACRs of past five years rejected; selection depends on feedback of officers
The Manohar Lal Khattar government has shortlisted kin of two front-line Haryana BJP leaders to fill one Indian Administrative Service (IAS) seat from among non-state civil service officers. Dr Asha Sharma, 42, daughter of education minister Ram Bilas Sharma, and Lajpat Rai, 56, brother of Santosh Yadav, deputy speaker Vidhan Sabha, are at first and second position on the panel of five candidates the state government has recommended to the UPSC.
CHANDIGARH: The Manohar Lal Khattar government has shortlisted kin of two front-line Haryana BJP leaders to fill one Indian Administrative Service (IAS) seat from among non-state civil service officers.
Dr Asha Sharma, 42, daughter of education minister Ram Bilas Sharma, and Lajpat Rai, 56, brother of Santosh Yadav, deputy speaker Vidhan Sabha, are at first and second position on the panel of five candidates the state government has recommended to the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), according to official documents that HT has accessed.
While Dr Sharma (MBBS) is a medical officer, Rai is a general manager in Haryana roadways. The other three candidates in the fray are Parveen Sethi (director, dental health services); Dr Rakesh Talwar (in-charge of health facilities at Haryana Raj Bhawan); and Vijender Singh (district town and country planner).
In last year’s panel also, the state government had recommended Dr Sharma by placing her on top of other candidates on the list. But the UPSC had cancelled the process in the absence of not receiving “deficient documents/information” from the state government by
December 31.
Given the criteria followed by the state government in preparing the panel, the selection procedure is perceived to be prone to political pulls and is akin to backdoor entry to the elite IAS.
Candidates having eight years service in a Class-1 post, equal to the rank of deputy collector, were shortlisted on the basis of their Annual Confidential Reports (ACRs) of the past five years, in what is a highly subjective selection process — and also the easiest — to become
an IAS officer.
CHIEF SECY -LED PANEL SHORTLISTED NAMES
Khattar had set up chief secretary DS Dhesi-led screening committee comprising Trilok Chand Gupta, principal secretary, and Neerja Sekhar, secretary (personnel) to shortlist the names.
“The meeting of the screening committee was held on 13.10.2017 (October 13, 2017)...The committee decided to consider five preceding years’ annual confidential reports of the officers...and after considering the same the committee has recommended the names of following officers for consideration of the UPSC,” reads the October 16 file noting.
Top government sources say the names of the shortlisted candidates were sent to the UPSC about two weeks ago. The UPSC has to hold interviews within December.
The interview board comprises one UPSC member, besides the Haryana chief secretary and one senior IAS officer of Haryana cadre.
“The selection depends on the feedback the state officers give to the UPSC,” a senior government functionary said.
Hence, the inclusion of kin of the BJP leaders is being seen with suspicion. As per rules, the candidate(s) being shortlisted should be of “outstanding ability and merit”.
The file noting of the screening panel says that there were 16 candidates who fulfilled “all the eligibility conditions.”
But, sources say at least three candidates who had five Outstanding ACRs in a row and impeccable administrative experience were rejected.
On the contrary, Dr Sharma, daughter of the minister in past five years got two Good, as many Very Good and one Outstanding ACR.
Last year, her ACRs remained under the scrutiny of the government and the UPSC due to an adverse observation that reads: “…in respect of Dr Asha Sharma, it is submitted that there is an observation…this ACR (of 2014-15) does not seem valid as she remained on earned leave…and rest of the period of the report is less than three months, hence it cannot be written.”
Chief secretary DS Dhesi was unavailable for comments. Neither did he respond to text messages.