CS on US trip leaves none in charge

Hyderabad:It may be by design or perhaps by accident . But tongues are wagging in thecorridors of power in the state over the decision of chief secretary P RamakanthReddy to go abroad for almost two weeks without handing over charge to anybody.The chief secretary is on a two-week tour to California in the USfrom Oct. 1-13 alongwith another senior bureaucrat to take part in a conferenceorganised by Adam Smith International, the consulting arm of UK-based Adam SmithInstitute, on delivery of improved services in administration (DISA). Adam SmithInstitute is a leading thinktank on freemarket economic and social policies .J P Murthy, special chief secretary in the general administrationdepartment, is the senior bureaucrat accompanying Reddy, sources said.Curiously, the GO according sanction for the trip was issued only onSaturday, three days after the team took off. If the top statebureaucrat is on tour for more than three days, it is normal practice for the CSto hand over temporary charge, the sources said. But by not doing so, RamakanthReddy has triggered speculations of all sorts. Some bureaucrats feltsince only important files come to the CS for clearances, and as many of themare sensitive in nature, the CS thought it best to keep them pending. "It is amatter of two weeks. If the files are very important, it will go to the chiefminister or the minister concerned for clearance . Otherwise, they can wait,"said one officer. But some others saw the move on part of RamakanthReddy as wanting to avoid a controversy. "This is because, at present there arethree senior officers in the state to whom he could have handed over charge.They include V P Jauhari, DG of Dr Marri Chenna Reddy HRD Institute, PriyadarshiDash, and A K Goyal, special chief secretary in the energy department. Jauhariis senior to him by one batch and the others too are senior despite belonging tothe same 1972 batch. Perhaps Ramakanth did not want to offend anyone, andtherefore , did not give charge to any of them," said another officer .