Five in-house candidates including two Directors and three Executive Directors as well as two outside candidates are in the race for the post of Chairman, Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL), falling vacant on January 1, 2021.

The Government of India will soon formulate a Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) Policy in order to define the strategic sectors. 

Why did  PM Narendra Modi chose Shah Hardik Satishchandra as his PS instead of Rajender Kumar ? Insiders say because of merit, Gujarati and loyalty. Shah had been PS to Prakash Javdekar and Harshvardhan also. He is 2010 batch IAS officer of Gujarat cadre.

A 1988 batch IAS officer, Dr Rajesh Kumar has been appointed as new Chief Secretary of Manipur. He succeeded Dr J Suresh Babu retired on July 31, 2020.

(We said this on July 31, 2020)

In fact, Secretary Commerce in the Government of India Dr Anup Wadhawan was the first choice for the post of Chief Secretary Uttarakhand but he reportedly preferred to stay back in Delhi. He is 1985 batch IAS officer of Uttarakhand cadre.

Seniormost IPS officer in Gujarat cadre Rakesh Asthana was the first choice of the State Government for the post of DGP of Gujarat. According to insiders, bosses in Delhi however did not allow him to return to the parent state. 1984 batch IPS officer Asthana is scheduled to retire in July next year.

Barun Mitra, who is presently on central deputation as Secretary, Ministry of Law and Justice, was whispered not to be interested in returning to cadre as Chief Secretary. He is a 1987 batch IAS officer. 

Secretary Urban Development, D S Mishra has been appointed new President of the All India IAS Association. He is 1984 batch IAS officer of UP Cadre.

An IPS officer from Bihar, Binay Tiwari, who visited Mumbai on duty has been denied access to IPS Mess and quarantined by BMC. DGP Bihar shared it on social media.

Meeting of outgoing Indian High Commissioner to UK, Ruchi Ghanshyam, with Foreign Minister S Jaishankar has fuelled speculations about her getting some assignment. She is 1982 batch former IFS officer.

Sanjay Shrivastava has been appointed Police Commissioner of Ahemdabad. He is 1987 batch IPS officer.

(We said this on July 9, 2020)

Pashupati Nath pandey has been posted as DG, ARM, RMD, Mumbai. He is a 1994 batch IRS(C&CE) officer.

Dr. Ajay Kumar, Deputy Chief of Mission, Kathmandu, Nepal, has joined as Joint Secretary in Lok Sabha Secretariat last week. He is a 2002 batch IFS officer.

 (We said this on June 25, 2020)

Sumit Deb, Director (Personnel), NMDC Limited, has taken over the charge as Chairman and Managing Director on the Board of NMDC Limited. He succeeded N Baijendra Kumar who retired on July 31. 

P V V Patnaik, ED, MOIL, has taken over the charge as Director (Commercial), MOIL Limited. He succeeded T K Pattnaik who retired on July 31, 2020. 

Chandan Kumar Mondol, ED, NTPC, has taken over the charge as Director (Commercial), National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) Limited.

Sanjeev Kumar Sharma, Director (Personnel), State Trading Corporation of India Limited (STC Ltd.) has been assigned an additional charge of Chairman & Managing Director (CMD), STC Ltd after Rajiv Chopra, Director Marketing, holding additional charge of CMD retired on July 31, 2020. 

Dinesh Kumar Batra, GM, BEL, has taken over the charge as Director (Finance), Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL).

Ms. Vartika Shukla, Executive Director-Incharge (Technical), Engineers India Limited, has taken over the charge as Director (Technical), Engineers India Limited.

As many as 2320 Indian Railways officers/staff superannuated on July 31, 2020. In a first event of its kind, Ministry of Railways organized a virtual retirement function for the Indian Railways officers/staff superannuated.

A 2003 batch IAS officer, Dr P Laksmi Narasimham has been appointed as Metropolitan Commissioner, Amravati Metropolitan Region Development Authority (AMRDA) in Andhra Pradesh.

Raman R, Additional GM (Internal Audit), BEL, has taken over the charge as General Manager (Internal Audit) of Navratna Defence PSU Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL).

Devendra Kumar Sonkaria has been appointed as Additional Member (Traffic Restoration and Crew Management) in Railway Board. He is an IRSME officer.

Ms Surabhi Sharma, Director, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade has been given premature repatriation to her parent cadre on personal grounds. She is a 2006 batch IRS-IT officer.

Ms Shalini Pandey has been appointed as Director in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. She is a 2004 batch IDES officer.

Arun Misra, Deputy CEO, has taken over the charge as Chief Executive Officer, Hindustan Zinc Limited.

K Aditya Vissam has been appointed as Managing Director of Anjani Foods Ltd.

Dr Y N Lakshminarayana Murthy has been appointed as Additional Director of Lakshmi Vilas Bank Ltd.

A VinodKumar has been appointed as CFO, while U Kapilkumar and R Purushothaman were made as Additional Director (Non-Executive Independent) and K Muthukumarasamy is Director of Invicta Meditek Ltd.

Ronak Jatwala and Nishikant Upadhaya have been appointed as Additional Director, Diligent Media Corporation Limited in the category of Non-Executive Non-Independent Director.

Mohammed Mansur H Dhanani has been appointed as Additional Director & Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Welterman International Limited.

Shrikant S Pareek as an Additional Director (Whole Time Director) has been designated as Director (Operations), Ashima Ltd.

Lingam Venkata Prabhakar has been appointed as Additional Director (Non-executive Promoter) on the Board of the Can Fin Homes Limited.

Lingam Venkata Prabhakar has been appointed as Additional Director (Non-executive Promoter) on the Board of the Can Fin Homes Limited.

Mrs. Mamta Binani and Ms. Swati Gautam have been appointed as Nominee Directors of Nicco Corporation Ltd.

Ratan Kumar Singh has been appointed as Additional Director (Independent Director), Ganga Papers India Limited.

P S Jayakumar has been appointed as Independent Director of JM Financial Ltd.

Kabir Ranjit Malhotra has been appointed as Additional Director, Empire Industries Limited.

China’s next target: Hawaii, nay, the United States

China’s eyes now seem to be set on the island of Hawaii in the United States in the Pacific Ocean. The recent re-election of the pro-Beijing Taneti Maamau as the President of Kiribati in June this year, according to Christopher Pala in his report filed with the FP News on June 19, will raise the “tantalizing possibility of China getting a foothold in Kiribati’s Christmas Island, which is the world’s largest atoll with a land area of 150 square km, located 1300 miles south of Honolulu, home to the US Pacific Command. “

While the ostensible reason for building port facilities on the Christmas Island could be tourism, it could very well be used to park the Chinese warships. Incidentally an analysis by a retired US Rear Admiral Michael McDevitt Chinese Navy will be the Largest in the World in 2035 has warned both the US and its ally Australia about the growing naval capabilities of China.

While Japan used air planes to attack the Pearl Harbour in 1944, state of the art technology could enable China to attack Hawaii from the Christmas Island. That this development has raised concern for the US military is evident from the hush-hush meeting held by the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in June with a key Chinese Foreign Ministry Official Yang Jiechi in Hawaii. During this meeting Yang is reported to have told the Secretary of State that the US should respect Chinese positions on key issues, stop interfering in the matters like Hong Kong, Taiwan and Xinjiang.

The message was loud and clear. If there were to be an attack on Honolulu that could trigger worldwide repercussions. Retaliation has no meaning as only Kiribati will suffer. Even when the world is still reeling under the onslaught of the corona virus, it neither wants the repeat of an attack on Pearl Harbour nor another Hiroshima and Nagasaki after seven decades. The telling fact, however, remains that the sky seems to be the limit for the territorial ambitions of China.

Dr Sitharam Gurumurthi IAS (Retired)

Chennai

In CSS, stagnation galores

This is on account of cadre restructuring of various All India Service Cadres. In the Central Staffing Scheme they continue to stagnate in the posts in which they are at the level of Director and Joint Secretary. Whereas their batch-mates in their own cadre become Joint Secretary level and Additional Secretary level. Why will one like to loose financially ?

BBS

Disclosure of vigilance file after filing of charge sheet 

Information pertaining to sanction of prosecution against the appellant by his department on CVC’s advice, was denied under section 8(1)(h) of the RTI Act. The appellant submitted that a charge sheet has been filed against him in ACB Court, Kota in August 2016, and hence, the denial of information under Section 8(1)(h) will not apply in the case because the investigation has been completed. The PIO agreed to abide by the CIC’s verdict. The denial of information under Section 8(1)(h) in the matter was rejected by the CIC.

Comments

There has been a contradictory view regarding disclosure of documents relating to a vigilance inquiry after the charge sheet has been filed while the enquiry is still pending. Whenever the information is denied u/s 8(1)(h), the PIO must inform how the disclosure of information would impede the process of investigation or apprehension or prosecution of offenders. It is not merely a perception or an assumption, but a burden on the public authority to show in what manner the disclosure of such information would 'impede' the process.

Citation: Manvendra Singh Raghav v. Central Vigilance Commission in File No : CIC/CVCOM/A/2018/164901, Date of Decision: 06/07/2020.

Dr. Anuradha Verma (dranuradhaverma@yahoo.co.in) is an expert on RTI matters and has co-authored the books RIGHT TO INFORMATION - LAW AND PRACTICE and PIO’s guide to RTI. Apart from her weekly article here, her other articles can be read at the website of RTI Foundation of India at the link: www.rtifoundationofindia.com

Editor-in-Chief
mehrotra.suresh@gmail.com
suresh.mehrotra@yahoo.com

Chief Executive Officer (Magazine)
mehrotra.sapna@gmail.com

Sanjay Sharma
Editor 
whisperseditor@gmail.com
(Cell): +91-9425022692

Sunil Salve
News Editor
sswhispers18@gmail.com
(Cell) : +91-9893512559

Abul Hasan 
Vice President (Business Development)
whispersinthecorridors.com@gmail.com
(Cell) +91-9981597666

whispersinthecorridors.com
A Unit of Arushi News Network
Corporate Office: E-19, 45 Bungalows T.T Nagar, 
Bhopal (M.P) India.
Phone & Tele Fax: +91-755-4221719

Dear surfers looking to an increased demand for latest news on your favourite website i.e. (https://www.whispersinthecorridors.com) we are nowadays updating it as and when the developments take place. Keep reading & wish you a happy browsing.

Share your information with suresh.mehrotra@yahoo.com & mehrotra.suresh@gmail.com.