Vacant top slot

THE union budget for the coming financial year will be prepared without a finance secretary. The key post is vacant during this crucial period because Finance minister Yashwant Sinha does not want the seniormost secretary in the ministry, revenue secretary S Narayanan, to fill the void created by the departure of Ajit Kumar.

The newly appointed secretary economic affairs C M Vasudev cannot take over as finance secretary since he would be superceeding Narayanan, who is a batch senior. Expenditure secretary C S Rao is even more junior. Despite his poor equation with the minister, Narayanan still commands clout in the government and was even considered at one stage as a replacement for NK Singh in the PMO. Which is why he was not transferred out of the ministry.

Since the finance secretary is a member on numerous boards such as the RBI, SEBI and the Atomic Energy Commission it is still to be determined who will take his place. Traditionally, the seniormost ministry official should stand in for the finance secretary, but it is being argued that it is the minister’s prerogative to decide. An even more fundamental question is which official will play the key role in the budget formation.

Politicians keep out

THE cabinet committee on security has administered a gentle snub to Home minister L K Advani, Civil Aviation minister Shahnawaz Hussain and civil aviation secretary A H Jung while debating the ideal drill for hijacks in the light of the experience of the recent imaginary hijack in Delhi. It was decided that in the future, the political leadership will keep away from the crisis management group during a hijack, so as not to impede the decision making process.

Also, no member of the crisis management group or the secretary of the relevant ministry will appear on TV. All questions from the media will be answered by the PIO or a designated information officer.

Culture shock

HUMAN Resources Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi claims to be the first victim of culture shock in the culture department. The culture portfolio was rudely snatched from him and artificially attached to the Tourism Ministry in 1999 after he began asking inconvenient questions. Joshi’s successor Ananth Kumar who was handed the portfolio seems to have preferred to let sleeping dogs lie.

During his tenure, the IGNCA board twice passed a resolution recommending that the CAG report into financial irregularities at the Centre should be ignored. Maneka Gandhi, on the other hand, at her first board meeting insisted that the CAG report be sent to the CBI for investigation.

The actual reason for Maneka’s precipitous ouster from the Culture Ministry is difficult to pinpoint since the impulsive minister during her brief stint tread on many powerful toes. Subramaniam Swamy’s demand for investigation into a case of smuggling of antiques to Italy in the early nineties could well be an additional ground. A week after Maneka forwarded his complaint to the ASI for necessary action, she was removed.

Incidentally, the same smuggling case had got Vasundhara Raje Scindia into hot water when as Minister for Personnel, she had routinely passed it on to the CBI for further investigation.

Compensation claims

AFTER the Vajpayee government came to power, some members of the BJP’s foreign affairs committee made public their resentment that they had not gained any benefit for their services to the party when it was in the opposition.

They pointed out that all members of the BJP’s former media cell such as Ashok Tandon, Balbir Punj, Kanchan Gupta and Dinanath Mishra had either wangled government jobs or become Rajya Sabha members. Also Brajesh Mishra, the former chairperson of the foreign affairs cell, had been doubly rewarded with the posts of special secretary to the PM and national security adviser.

Mishra seems to have taken note of his former colleagues grievances. N N Jha was earlier appointed Lt Governor of the Andaman and Nicobar island and now I P Singh is to go to Nepal as ambassador.

Ninth Schedule

THE apprehension that the Venkatachalliah Commission reviewing the Constitution might have a political agenda has proved to be unfounded. On the contrary, the commission’s draft proposals contain many far sighted suggestions for reform.

For instance, the Commission has looked into the misuse of the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution. The insertion of this schedule was mooted by Pandit Nehru as a loophole to ensure that essential agrarian and land reforms were not blocked because they were violative of our fundamental rights. Unfortunately, all governments have misused the provision to enforce acts, which have been struck down by the court, even though they have nothing to do with land reform.

Today there are over 200 items in schedule nine of the constitution a large number of which, such as takeover of sick textile mills, the Foreign Exchange Regulatory Act, the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act are not covered by the stated objective of the schedule. The commission has also worked out modifications to Article 356 to ensure that governments in New Delhi do not misuse the provision to arbitrarily impose central rule in state governments.

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