New Delhi: One issue which has constantly plagued the NDA government at the Centre in the last nine-odd months is the controversies involving appointments, resignations and sackings at senior official positions.
The latest in the series of such cases is the reported denial of a second term to Nobel laureate Amartya Sen as the Vice Chancellor of Nalanda University, Bihar. Peeved over the development, Sen has alleged that he had been asked to vacate the post though the Centre has rubbished his claims.
Sen, who has long been a critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a letter to the Governing Board of the University, blamed the absence of government's approval for delay in nod from the Visitor, President Pranab Mukherjee, to his name even though the recommendation was sent to him over a month back.
Just a few days ago in January 2015, the Centre sacked Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh and replaced her with US Ambassador Subrahmanyam Jaishankar who was due to retire from the Indian Foreign Service on January 31. He was made the Foreign Secretary to give him tenure of two years on the post.
The "curtailment of tenure of foreign secretary Sujatha Singh with immediate effect", an euphemism for sacking, is only the second time that such a senior IFS officer has been asked to leave office. In 1987 the then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi had removed AP Venkateswaran as the foreign secretary and named KPS Menon as his successor.
Sujatha Singh, a batch senior to Jaishankar who joined the IFS in 1977, was removed just a day after USA President Barack Obama left India. She had almost six months before her retirement and was due to retire in July.
Singh is believed to have been replaced by Jaishankar directly by the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) even though External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj apparently was in her favour. Swaraj, though on record, said she was kept in loop while replacing Singh.
The appointment of new Home Secretary too had its share of controversy. It appointed 1979 batch Kerala cadre IAS officer LC Goyal as new Union Home Secretary after sacking his predecessor Anil Goswami for his alleged interference in multi-crore Saradha scam probe.
Goswami was sacked by the Narendra Modi government after being named by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for allegedly attempting to stall former union minister and Congress leader Matang Sinh's arrest in connection with the Saradha scam.
The Centre also sacked UPSC member AP Singh and was asked by the government to provide details of his properties, bank accounts, lockers and credit cards. He is being investigated in connection with the suspected case of tax evasion by meat exporter Moin Qureshi. He had allegedly rented his apartment's basement to the meat exporter.
On January 13, the Centre abruptly removed chief of top defence research organisation Avinash Chander, 15 months before his contract was to end. The Appointments Committee of Cabinet headed by the Prime Minister "approved the termination" of the contract of Chander with effect from January 31.
Interestingly, Chander who was Secretary, Defence Research and Development cum Director General, DRDO and Scientific Advisor to the Defence Minister, had retired on November 30, 2014 on attaining 64 years of age and he was given a contract for 18 months till May 31, 2016.
The removal of Chander after being given a contract raised questions over the Government's action. Analysts believe that the action could have been taken against the backdrop of Modi's comment that the 'laid back' attitude in the DRDO will not be tolerated.
Film producer Pahlaj Nihalani, who was appointed as Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) chief after Leela Samson resigned, has too hogged the limelight for banning cussed words without consulting fellow members. Nihalani was criticised by fellow board member Ashoke Pandit who alleged that they were not consulted before the list, which was leaked to media, was forwarded to regional offices.
The list, which includes some 28 cuss words, has angered filmmakers in Bollywood. They have called it absurd, regressive and against creative freedom.
The appointment of Nihalani, a film maker, and some other members like Vani Tripathi Tikoo of the Censor Board has drawn flak for their links with the ruling BJP. Nihalani has bragged about being a "BJP person" and called Prime Minister Modi as his "action hero".
The appointment of former Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) chairperson Nripendra Mishra as the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi by promulgating an ordinance was widely criticised by the Opposition. However, the government defended the decision saying the PM had the right to choose his staff.
Within two days of coming to power, the Modi government brought an ordinance to change the rules of TRAI which barred its chairman from taking up any future appointments.
The appointment, resignation and sacking of persons on the gubernatorial posts has also been one of the most controversial issues in this regime so far. Six UPA-appointed Governors - K Sankaranarayanan (Maharashtra), MK Narayanan (West Bengal), Ashwani Kumar (Nagaland), BL Joshi (UP), BV Wanchoo (Goa) and Shekhar Dutt (Chhattisgarh) -resigned after being nudged by the NDA government.
V Purushothaman, the Governor of Mizoram, had resigned after he was transferred to Nagaland. The government even sacked Mizoram Governor Kamla Beniwal, who had served in Gujarat and had a running battle with Modi when he was the state's Chief Minister. Virendra Kataria, a former Congress leader, was also sacked as Puducherry Lt Governor.
Former Kerala Governor and three-time Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit had attacked the NDA government for "forcing" UPA-appointed governors to quit and alleged that the new dispensation targeted the holders of the constitutional office "selectively" and "humiliated" them which does not auger well for democracy.
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