Lokayukta raid at Deputy Director's houses unearths crores

The Lokayukta police conducted raids at the houses of Urban Administration Department's Deputy Director Ashok Sharma and recovered property disproportionate to his known sources of income.

The raids at Ujjain, Indore and Bhopal unearthed assets worth over Rs 2 crore. Sharma is posted in Ujjain and has house in Indore also. His family lives in Indore. In Bhopal he owns house in Gulmohar Colony in Shahpura.

His houses in Mahananda Nagar in Ujjain and Indore's Vijay Nagar were searched. Jewellery, investiments, insurance policies and cars were found in the raids in three cities. Two of Sharma's children study in America and Singapore.

he raids of Lokayukta, Income Tax, CBI and Economic Offences Wing (EOW) in state prove that a large number of government officials and employees have induldged in large-scale corruption, as it has become a norm to seize crores in almost every raid.

Avani Vaish is Chief Secretary of Madhya Pradesh

Ending speculation for weeks, the state government made it clear that Avani Vaish would be the next chief civil servant of Madhya Pradesh.

He will take charge from Rakesh Sahni. Vaish, a 1975 batch officer of Indian Administrative Service (IAS), was on deputation in New Delhi. His wife is also an IAS officer.

Earlier, names of Sumit Bose, Alka Sirohi, Prashant Mehta, OP Rawat and Satya Prakash were doing the rounds. But Shivraj Singh Chouhan chose Vaish over others, in process superseding several officers.

Vaish came to Bhopal on Wednesday and met the Chief Minister. Avni Vaish's wife Anshu is also an IAS officer, presently posted in HRD ministry in Delhi. Outgoing CS Rakesh Sahni is retiring on January 31.

Though Chief Secretary is an important post, local newspapers gave an impression as it a Chief Minister was getting appointed. The post was glorified and an unprecedented hype created over the selection of the next CS of the state.

Who will be the next top babu of Madhya Pradesh?

The Chief Secretary, who is the top public servant or the head of all government employees, holds an important post in the administration. Speculations are rife as to who would take over after Rakesh Sahni's retirement.

Names of Sumit Bose and Alka Sirohi were making the rounds. Bose is not too keen on returning to the state. Sirohi is not very popular but her meeting with Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has suggested that she is a strong contender.

Prashant Meha should have been ahead in the race as he is neither arrogant, nor impractical. But there is a lobby against him. There are other contenders inlcluding Ranjana Chaudhary, Avani Vaishya, Satya Prakash and OP Rawat.

As per seniority, Sandeep Khanna and SC Wardhan should have been among the contenders. They are due for retirement in coming months. In the coming days, the picture would be clear whether MP will have another woman appointed at the post of Chief Secretary.

CS says RTI has made bureaucrats' life miserable

Should the Madhya Pradesh Chief Secretary Rakesh Sahni have said it? In a Bhopal newspaper on December 22, he said that the RTI has made the life of bureaucrats miserable.

Do we read it as absolute failure of CS to check corruption. Else why should an IAS officer be scared of revealing information. When he gets his salary from the citizens, should he have the right to misappropriate it?

If seen in broader context, this also suggests that a large number of the officers in the elite services, are doing something which they don't want to reveal. What is it which they are concealing?

It is also sad that bureaucrats who are supposed to bring efficiency in government work and ensure transparency are speaking against Right to Information (RTI), an act which the Centre brought for the benefit of the common man.

The aim is that the citizen should not get befooled and cheated by bureaucrats. When a highly educated person who holds an important post speaks against RTI, it's really a sad day for Madhya Pradesh's babudom and it's official machinery.