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After keeping the appointments of some of the senior level officers on special duty/private secretary on hold for months, Prime Minister Narendra Modi finally cleared some of them.
Minority Affairs Minister Najma Heptulla and Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkiah Naidu heaved a sigh of relief when Modi cleared the appointment of their Officers on Special Duty on Wednesday.
Modi gave a green signal to the appointment of Mahesh Tiwari, a director in the Rajya Sabha, to serve with the minority affairs minister as her OSD.
Similarly, Naidu got his OSD in Jagmohan Sundrial, a serving officer in the Rajya Sabha secretariat. The minister was hard-pressed for staff in the wake of heavy work-load for months.
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley wanted Simanchal Dash, an officer of the Indian Revenue Service to function as his private secretary in the ministry of defence as well. The proposal was sent months ago by Jaitley to the PM that Dash be allowed to function in both the ministries. Dash was functioning as PS in the finance ministry and Jaitley wanted him to hold the dual charge. But it was kept hanging.
It was only now that the PM cleared the proposal. But it was not without a rider. An official notification issued by the PMO categorically stated that Dash can continue in the position until March 2016 only. The order said that an officer can continue in the personal staff of the minister only for a period of ten years. Since Dash had earlier worked with Jaitley in the commerce ministry, he will go back to his parent cadre after completion of 10 year period.
It may be mentioned that Modi is very particular in clearing the appointments of PS/OSD/APS of the Union ministers and had rejected several such proposals. He rejected all names of officers who had worked in the personal staff of the United Progressive Alliance ministers. Home Minister Rajnath Singh was denied the PS of his choice under this rule. He also disallowed any relative to function in the personal staff of ministers.
A cabinet minister is entitled to a personal staff of 16 officers and those holding dual or triple charge can increase this number as per their entitlement. It is more than four months and some of the ministers have been unable to hire their personal staff due to heavy scrutiny by the department of personnel & training under the PM. It is also learnt that Intelligence Bureau's input is obtained in these appointments as Modi doesn't want persons of doubtful integrity in the personal staff of NDA ministers.