Guv signs relieving orders

Officers transferred are H Sheshagiri, Under Secretary to Governor, Manjunath, Personal Secretary to Secretary and V Seetharam, Personal Assistant to Governor and Bheema Rao, section officer.

Sources said the governor himself signed relieving orders of these officers. It is said that for the first time in the history of Raj Bhavan that a Governor has signed relieving orders.
Bhardwaj has sought from Chief Secretary S V Ranganath a list of officers to select one to replace Sharada Subramaniam. The Chief Secretary is expected to send the list on Friday. Subramaniam would be transferred once her successor is identified.

Sharada, an Indian Audit & Accounts Service (IA&AS) officer of 1991 batch, has been working in the Raj Bhavan since May 2005. She has worked with three governors - T N Chaturvedi, Rameshwar Thakur and the current incumbent, Bhardwaj.

It is said the Governor was upset with the content of notification ordering inquiry into affairs of the registrars of Bangalore University. He is believed to have directed the secretary to issue notification ordering inquiry against the two registrars and the vice chancellor too.

However, the secretary issued notification without VC’s name. The Governor, in a public function a couple of days after the notification was issued, told the press that that VC also comes under purview of the inquiry. The difference in the notification and the Governor’s statement was obvious.

It is also said that there were differences among the top officers including the secretary, were affecting the administration. In another case, the Governor’s secretariat came for criticism by a few former vice-chancellors after a VC of a university was granted an emolument of Rs 1.43 lakh, besides the regular salary of Rs 44,000.

By invoking the provisions under the Section 14 (9) of the Karnataka Universities Act, the Governor’s office sanctioned an emolument of Rs 1.43 lakh. With this provision, the VC gets salary more than the Governor himself.

Besides, there were allegations of irregularities in certain recruitments. However, the Raj Bhavan did not come out with any explaination as to why the transfers were effected. It is said that the Governor wanted to bring in new faces in his secretariat by sending all those had been working for the last three or more years.