MAHARASHTRA: THE RI GHT LI NKS
for over a year. Even after the DoPT advertised for the post and an officer from Bengal, Arnab Ray, was selected, he could not be inducted as the state government was unwilling to let its officers go on central deputation.
For eight months, the post lay vacant as the chief minister refused to give Ray a “noobjection” certificate. “There was no reason for not allowing Ray to join, but the CM is possessive about officers of the Bengal cadre. And handing them over to the Centre, which she treats as enemy territory, is difficult for her,” says a senior bureaucrat, on condition of anonymity.
In the middle of this, when the amendment came, Mamata mentioned Ray’s case at a public function, saying that she had given a “no- objection” to the officer for a particular post, whereas the government was considering him for a subordinate one. Her allusion was to the NDA government reserving top posts for its own party cadre.
Bezbaruah, despite being a political entity, has the qualifications for the job. An MBA from IIM Calcutta, he owns a number of tea gardens in Assam. In any case, the Tea Board has made it clear that the chairman, as a political appointee, has no executive powers. The real power lies with the deputy chairman or executive head. But this still hasn’t stopped the rumours, or the TMC’s barbs against the Centre about being given a raw deal.
MAMATA SAW THE TEA ACT CHANGE AS A BJP CONSPIRACY TO GET IN ITS OWN PEOPLE