This won't be pleasant for retired or retiring bureaucrats. One of the most sought after overseas postings, that of an executive director at the International Monetary Fund, might just slip away from the hands of turning-60 bureaucrats.
In a move that will shrink the parking lot for retired secretaries, Finance Minister Jaswant Singh is considering a proposal to let senior, joint secretary-level, serving IAS officers to represent India at the IMF. The posting is for a period of three years, and offers tax-free dollar remuneration.
With Y Venugopal Reddy, India's present executive director at the IMF, slated to return home as governor of the Reserve Bank of India at the end of September, the government has to look for a replacement. At the IMF, the executive director from India represents the interests of Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh and the Maldives.
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The fresh thinking in the finance ministry is that a joint secretary, after a stint with the IMF, can add value by returning to government service. Moreover, several other countries, including the UK and Canada, send junior-level officers to represent their interests at the IMF.
Some, however, contend that it is for the system to utilise the services of those nominated. For example, RBI Governor Bimal Jalan and Vijay Kelkar, adviser to the finance minister, were nominated to the IMF when they were approaching retirements here, and returned to take up important portfolios. Reddy, too, was appointed close to his retirement.
Over the last few decades, the government has used the IMF and World Bank vacancies to either reward or punish secretaries.
For instance, in 1989, former finance minister Madhu Dandavate eased out then finance secretary Gopi Arora by despatching him as executive director with the IMF to create space for Jalan.
Arora had over a four-year stint, including Jalan's unfinished tenure of a year or so.
Former revenue secretary M R Sivaraman was rewarded with the IMF posting by former finance minister Manmohan Singh.
Yashwant Sinha, the last finance minister, nominated Kelkar to the post, and former home secretary B P Singh for the post of executive director at the World Bank. C M Vasudev and Reddy succeeded the two, respectively.
