Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal on the warpath yet again

Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal on the warpath yet again
S.M.A. KAZMI

DEHRA DUN, JAN 15: Close on the heels of a bitter row over sharing of power, a new controversy is brewing between the newly-created state of Uttaranchal and Uttar Pradesh. This time, the spat is over the division of IAS officers between the two states.

The Uttaranchal government has strongly protested against the Uttar Pradesh government's reported move to detain 14 of the 25 IAS officers alloted to the Uttaranchal cadre.

Uttar Pradesh, which relieved these officers on January 11 as per an agreement between the two governments, has now decided to suo motu detain these 14 IAS officers, treating them as being on deputation.

At the same time, without taking the Uttaranchal government into confidence, Uttar Pradesh has also recalled some 67 provincial Civil Services (PCS) to their parent state, much to the former's ire. These PCS officers had been working in various capacities in Uttaranchal.

The Uttaranchal government will find itself handicapped without these officers as they man important positions in various districts of the state.

Senior officials of the two governments had earlier met and decided that Uttaranchal cadre officials from Uttar Pradesh would be relieved and sent back home by January 5.

Uttaranchal officials now say that while the UP government has circumvented that agreement by detaining the 14 IAS officials on ``frivolous'' grounds, it has no right to withdraw its PCS officers without consulting the new state.

They also argue that as per the UP Reorganisation Act, 2000, these PCS officials, due to paucity of officers could work for one year in Uttaranchal. This could well end in the lastest spat between the two states, observers here say.

Both state governments had been at loggerheads over control of various hydro-electric projects in Uttaranchal. While UP Energy Minister Naresh Aggarwal lost no time in proclaiming that control over these projects would continue to rest with UP, Uttaranchal was at pains to clarify that it would take them over soon after formation of the state Power Corporation.

Similarly, a move by the UP government to withdraw a sum of Rs. 210 crore from the UP Forest Corporation in the run up to Uttaranchal's creation had irked political parties as well as employees in Uttaranchal culminating in a court battle on the issue.