One officer, dozen posts is outrageous

Govt has set itself, and Rakesh Singh, up for failure and charges of favouritism.

Karnataka has been facing a shortage of Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers for some years now, due to which many senior bureaucrats have been given multiple posts and responsibilities. But even so, appointing a single officer as Chairman of a dozen boards and authorities, in addition to his existing responsibilities, is outrageous. The officer in question is Rakesh Singh, who has been put in charge of various bodies, including the Bengaluru Development Authority (BDA). In addition, he is the Additional Chief Secretary of major departments like Urban Development and Water Resources, besides being the Administrator of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). These bodies and departments corner a lion’s share of the state’s budget and central allocations, and each of these responsibilities is so onerous that even a full-time officer cannot do justice to even one of these positions, let alone a dozen of them. The government may argue that almost all of Singh’s assignments are connected to urban development and so a single officer can ensure better coordination, but this is not true. Singh has not been able to exercise much oversight even on BBMP, which remains unable to fulfill even its basic responsibilities as a municipal corporation.

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No minister in the Siddaramaiah cabinet holds such ‘plum portfolios’, which naturally has led to charges of favouritism. While Singh is said to be an efficient officer, there is much consternation among the IAS cadre that a particular set of bureaucrats manage to get good postings, irrespective of the party in power. Besides, overburdening an officer with too many responsibilities would only reflect on administrative efficiency. The government should ensure that responsibility is evenly distributed so that governance does not suffer.

Even as there is a shortage of officers at the principal secretary level, which is worsened by poor cadre management, the previous Bommai government had given consent to the Centre’s proposal to unilaterally requisition the services of All-India Service officers without the express approval of the state. This will only worsen the problem. The Siddaramaiah government should ensure that the consent is withdrawn. There is also a need to strengthen the selection process of Karnataka Administrative Service (KAS) officers and provide them with adequate training and responsibilities so that the state can reduce its dependence on IAS cadre. Many state cadre officers have proven that they are not inferior to those selected on all-India basis in terms of skill or efficiency. As the head of the bureaucracy, Chief Secretary Vandita Sharma should ensure efficient cadre management in order to pave the way for better utilisation of officers so that the wheels of the government turn smoothly. ‘One officer, dozen posts’ is not the way to go.