Sandesh Prabhudesai
17 September 1999
Stating that the state would not continue as the colony of Delhi any more, the Congress government in Goa has withdrawn itself from the AGMU cadre, consisting of Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram and union territories, for the purpose of posting IAS and IPS officers.
Announcing the cabinet decision in this regard, chief minister Luizinho Faleiro has also declared that the state would now form its own, separate and independent cadre as per the constitutional provision and section 59 of the State Reorganisation Act, 1987.
Though the cabinet has decided to withdraw its 'purely temporary' consent given for the AGMU cadre immediately from the month end, the tourist state has decided to bring officers of 'their choice' on deputation from other states, till the state cadre comes into existence.
In rare cases, says Faleiro, the state could also accept officers of the level of deputy secretary and above from the centre, provided they submit a list of at least three such officers along with their confidential report dossiers.
Meanwhile, the Goa government has also agreed to accept the posting of Ashok Nath as the new chief secretary, suggested by the centre, besides the existing secretaries and police officers. "But we will not accept a single officer posted by the ministry of home affairs any more", said Faleiro categorically.
Faleiro had threatened to withdraw from the AGMU cadre twice in the past. He had protested against sudden transfer of police chief P S R Brar, whose real estate deals are presently being probed into, in February before imposition of the President's rule. Incidentally, Faleiro is also one of the wealthiest real estate agent of Goa.
The second controversy arose in June, when he took over again, over the centre not recalling chief secretary Seva Ram Sharma. Incidentally, Sharma had referred a complaint to the Public Men's Corruption Commission during the President's rule, regarding Faleiro accumulating wealth through suspicious deals in real estate.
"These officers lack perception about local peoples' aspirations, hopes and desires", says Faleiro while also protesting against the centre's attitude to consider Goa as a garbage bin to dump the unwanted officers.
His main contention behind the sudden action in an unplanned manner appears to be that most of the powers regarding postings and transfers are being vested with the joint cadre authority manned by the bureaucrats. "Other states have control of the state government", he says, indicating clearly that he wants a political hold over it.
In fact what prompted Faleiro for the sudden action is the hurdle created by the union home ministry (presently headed by the BJP), which stated that Sharma would be relieved only after handing over charge to the incoming CS. In retaliation, the local authorities gave temporary charge to the finance secretary and discharged Sharma.
The tourist state is presently having 12 IAS and six IPS officers. "Why do we need IAS officers as the deputy collectors and collectors", asks Faleiro, while also making it clear that he would gradually cut down the cadre posts, to fill it "with our own people".
In order to create the own state cadre, Faleiro has decided to instruct the Goa University to conduct extensive training programmes for the desired young Goans. Goa otherwise has hardly any IAS or IPS officers, who could be brought in as the replacement.
Your Comments Please
