A confirmed gravy train ticket called Secretary (Personnel)

Although not a high-profile posting in terms of its visibility,the secretary (personnel) is extremely powerful as the office literally functions like the human resource arm of the government. It is responsible for appointments of bureaucrats,clearance of their vigilance files,and transfers and sanctions for prosecution among other things. The ministry also has administrative control over the CBI.

The trend goes back to December 1998 when Brij Bihari Tandon took over as secretary from Arvind Varma. After he relinquished charge on June 13,2001,Tandon,a 1966-batch officer of Himachal Pradesh cadre,was appointed election commissioner and went on to become the chief election commissioner. During his tenure as EC,he was also made a member of the Delimitation Commission in July 2002.

* His successor Ajay Kumar Agarwal,a Madhya Pradesh-cadre,1966-batch officer,was appointed member of the Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) just two months after his superannuation in November 2002,and vice-chairman of the Central Administrative Tribunal,Mumbai bench,in November 2003.

* S S Dawra,a 1967-batch,Punjab-cadre officer,succeeded Agarwal and retired in October 2003. Although he was tipped to become a member of the PESB,the change of guard at the Centre in the summer of 2004 apparently ruined his chances. But he went on to become chairman of the Punjab Revenue Commission and a director at Food Corporation of India.

* Dawras successor Arun Bhatnagar,another 1966-batch officer from Madhya Pradesh cadre,had better luck under UPA I. Bhatnagar,who served a mere eight months as secretary in the ministry,was appointed secretary to the National Advisory Council,after the cabinet adopted the Common Minimum Programme and decided to set up the council.

Headed by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi,it became inactive when the office of profit controversy forced Gandhi to resign. When the NAC was wound up in 2008 it was later reconstituted in 2010 Bhatnagar was shifted to Prasar Bharati as its chairman in May 2008,replacing M V Kamath. Kamath,who had been appointed by the NDA government,still had a years term left.

* A N Tiwari,a 1969-batch,Andhra Pradesh-cadre officer,replaced Bhatnagar as secretary (personnel). He opted for voluntary retirement on December 26,2005,five days before his superannuation,only to join as information commissioner on December 28,2005.

* The next bureaucrat in the post,Pratyush Sinha,a 1969-batch officer from the Bihar cadre,served a mere seven months and was made the Central Vigilance Commissioner on retirement.

* Lalit Kumar Joshi,a 1970-batch,Madhya Pradesh-cadre officer,took over from Sinha,but only for six months. He retired in January 2007 and within a month was made vice-chairman of the Central Administrative Tribunal,Delhi bench.

* Joshis successor was another Madhya Pradesh-cadre officer of the 1973 batch,Satyananda Mishra. He did not wait for his superannuation and resigned on September 12,2008,to join as information commissioner. In the process,he became information commissioner ahead of two others who were being appointed as commissioners M L Sharma and Annapurna Dixit retained seniority and went on to become the chief information commissioner.

* A 1974-batch,Jharkhand-cadre officer,Rahul Sarin,succeeded Mishra. He retired in August 2009 and was thought to be in the running for the post of election commissioner. However,he had to make do with the post of member in the Appellate Tribunal of the Competition Commission of India.

* The tradition of the secretary (personnel) getting a comfortable post-retirement government position was broken by Shantanu Consul, a 1974-batch,Karnataka-cadre officer. Consul was appointed as a member of the high-level Shunglu committee to look into the organisation and conduct of Commonwealth Games 2010. When the Shunglu report alleged irregularities in the organisation of the games,Consul reportedly ruined his chances of a sinecure.

* Consul was succeeded by his batchmate from the Madhya Pradesh cadre,Alka Sirohi. About a month before her retirement in January 2012,she was appointed a member of the Union Public Service Commission. Sirohi had a month to go before her retirement in January 2012 but her UPSC appointment order came on January 3,a day before her 60th birthday. She joined the UPSC the next day,ensuring she would get a full tenure there and hopefully make it to the post of chairperson.

(Concluded)