Questions linger over Sivasankar successors

Thiruvananthapuram: M Sivasankar’s removal from the posts of principal secretary of the IT department and secretary to the CM has only succeeded in giving rise to questions over the appointment of his successors.
Government sources point out that Muhammed Y Safirulla, named to the high-stakes IT department, is an officer of the 2010 batch who has not attained the required seniority to be appointed to the post. Interestingly, he is not even part of the cadre at present and is on a sabbatical.
“Appointing an officer in anticipation that he will rejoin service is unheard of.It is learnt that Safirulla was handpicked as he had earlier worked as IT Mission director under M Sivasankar,” a top official said.
Officers are handed independent charge only after they attain the rank of secretaries or special secretaries. An officer attains the rank of a special secretary after completing 12 years in service, and the rank of a secretary after 16 years. Safirulla currently enjoys the rank of additional secretary.
The order says that till Safirulla returns to the cadre, the charge would be held by Sanjay M Kaul, who is currently secretary of finance (resources) and ports and is also chairman and MD of Kerala Finance Corporation. Interestingly, the order goes on to say that he will report to additional chief secretary (finance) Rajesh Kumar Singh. But, nowhere does it explain how Singh, who has not been handed charge of IT department, can be the reporting authority.
Through another order, Mir Mohammed Ali, of the 2011 batch, was given full additional charge of secretary to CM. “Both officers have spent less than a decade in the state and have not worked even a single day in the secretariat. Be it a calculated move or a decision taken without giving any thought, it is unfair to burden them with such risky assignments, that too when the government is already in a soup over mismanagement,” another bureaucrat said.