CMO secy: Mamata adheres to rule book

KOLKATA: Seniority of rank and payscale in the bureaucracy is sacrosanct. And none, not even the chief ministercan change it. This has stopped Mamata Banerjee from promoting an officer of thejoint secretary rank and handpicked by her from the central secretariat servicesas the principal secretary to the chief minister's office (CMO). The CM was made aware of this stringent rule when the order to elevate Gautam Sanyal to the rank of principal secretary was being processed. The file was customarily sent for the chief secretary's vetting. That's when Samar Ghosh had to turn to the Rule Book (under the All India Services Act, 1951) and point out that the officer in question couldn't be made the principal secretary since he became a joint secretary (in central services) only in 2007. Several IAS officers from the Bengal cadre had become joint secretaries since 2004 - they are all in queue and yet to be promoted as principal secretary. Sanyal, therefore, was "too junior" to be made a principal secretary.Ghosh eportedly told the CMthat nobody could change Sanyal's rank or payscale. A principal secretaryqualifies in the Rs 67,000-Rs 79,000 pay category. The CM stood corrected anddesisted from issuing the original order. The officer, with a lower payscale,was only made "secretary". He is, thus, heading the CMO in his capacity as ajoint secretary. The CM, now learning the ropes of administration, didn't pushSanyal's case further. But the incident has fuelled a debate on such "unique"proposals. For the CMO has always been headed by senior IAS officers likeBhaskar Ghosh, Subir Dutta, S N Menon and Anish Majumdar. The first threegraduated as secretary to the Government of India and Majumdar became the statechief secretary.The debate resumed again on Thursday when the orderfor repatriation of Barun Roy, a 1992-batch IAS officer who was on centraldeputation as shipping minister Mukul Roy's private secretary, reached Writers'.Once again the state secretariat was abuzz with conjectures.That'sbecause the Mamata Banerjee government recalled Bengal cadre officers Barun Royalong with Santanu Basu (a 2000-batch IAS officer) and Sanjay Mitra (1982 batch)on the pretext that they would be inducted into the now, more meaningful CMO.The CM went back on her plans to induct Mitra in the CMO and instead made himthe health secretary. Officials had logically assumed that this 1982-batch IASofficer, who has served as joint secretary to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO)for seven years, would become the principal secretary to the CMO, which is thenucleus of the new government. While Basu has been absorbed in theCMO as joint secretary, speculation is rife on whether Roy stands a chance inthe most important government department. "In that case what would be his rank?He is a direct IAS officer of the Bengal cadre and has already been a jointsecretary to the Government of India. Therefore, he can't be posted underSanyal, who is from the central secretariat service officer and junior to him,"a source said.