FM tells 2 more senior officials to leave

NEW DELHI: The purge in the finance ministry, ahead of a reshuffle of secretaries in North Block, is set to result in the exit of two more senior officials, taking the tally to six.
Six joint secretaries have now been sent out of the ministry so far since Jaswant Singh took over as finance minister. Mr Singh, who has initiated these changes, has indicated that he would prefer to have internal candidates to head the departments of economic affairs, revenue, expenditure and banking when present revenue secretary CS Rao and finance secretary S Narayan retire at the end of May and June respectively.
Last week, in an unprecedented move, four joint secretaries in the ministry were served marching orders. Of the four, two — Ajit Saran, joint secretary (insurance) and Usha Mathur, joint secretary, (personnel) were repatriated to their parent cadres, while Navin Kumar, joint secretary (EEC) was put on compulsory ‘hold’ and Prashant Mehta, joint secretary, was transferred to the ministry of mines, well before the end of their five-year tenures in the ministry.
The first to be shown the door over three months back was joint secretary (PSE), S Behura. However, Usha Mathur had opted for repatriation back to the railways while all the others were forcibly shown the door.
One of those identified in the original ‘hit-list’ — GS Dutt, joint secretary in charge of foreign trade and investment in the department of economic affairs — is also being placed on compulsory wait, according to officials.
Most of these officers figured in a list sent to the cabinet secretary by Jaswant Singh shortly after he took over as finance minister, for being replaced with more competent officers.
One more head is expected to roll shortly. This is that of an additional secretary in the department of revenue, who is set to be shifted to another ministry.
However, although Jaswant Singh may have had his way in removing officers he perceived as not being “competent,� the choice of replacements may not be fully to his liking.
Jaswant Singh’s wish to have his own choice of internal candidates as finance, revenue, expenditure and banking secretaries would only mean reshuffling two secretaries in the ministry and promoting two others. Again, CS Rao’s appointment as head of the insurance regulator (IRDA) is now awaiting approval.