LUCKNOW, 5 May 2007 — The Uttar Pradesh state government’s recommendation of 46 of its officers for promotion to the Indian Administrative Services has raised a storm.
The state appointment department sought an explanation from different departments for recommending names of those officers who were found to be “incompetent.”
The issue has snowballed into a major controversy with panic and fear wide- spread in the departments, which had recommended the names of those officers.
So far, the appointment department has not received reply from any of the departments from whom explanation were sought.
According to sources those recommended for promotion to IAS were either relatives of the state Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav or his ministerial colleagues. There were also several others, who in reality were unsuitable for promotion to the IAS cadre.
In another development, the Election Commission has recommended suspension of a senior IAS officer Arvind Kumar, who was sent to Uttar Pradesh as an election observer, for misbehaving with some officials of the state.
Kumar, secretary, information technology in Maharashtra, was deputed as an election observer in Bahraich district and was found guilty of misbehaving with the Bahraich district magistrate and the senior superintendent of police and other poll officials during the assembly polls in an inebriated condition.
