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News Analysis

Controversial ED official posted to northeast

Nitin Gogoi in Guwahati

That the northeast continues to be treated as an "isolation ward," by the Delhi-centric government has been proved once again with the Centre's decision to post Ashok Agarwal, the controversial former deputy director of the Enforcement Directorate, to Arunachal Pradesh's capital, Itanagar.

The reason cited for his transfer to Itanagar is that by "sending him to the remote corner of the country, the officer will not be able to threaten or influence witnesses in the cases against him."

Agarwal shot into the limelight for having tried to falsely implicate a Delhi-based jeweller Subhash Barjatya in collusion with Abhishek Verma, a wealthy Delhi businessman. He is currently on bail.

The northeast has always been treated as a dumping ground for 'corrupt and inefficient' officers. Agarwal's transfer is the latest case in point. Reactions in the region have been strong over the issue. The influential English daily, The Assam Tribune, in an editorial on Monday commented: 'Clearly, after five decades of independence, the northeast continues to be a Kalapani for Delhi where corrupt or inefficient officers can be conveniently dispatched for punishment postings. Much of the under-development and economic backwardness of this region as also prevailing disaffection and insurgency, can be attributed to such an obnoxious and humiliating attitude.'

Indeed, the Assam-Meghalaya cadre of the Indian Administrative Service is mostly treated as least preferred by new entrants to the civil service. Even those who get this cadre do so reluctantly. The Assam-Meghalaya joint cadre for the IAS has approximately 206 officers on its panel. According to norms, 40 per cent of these officers are supposed to be on central deputation at any given time. So according to that calculation, about 50 officers should be out of Assam and Meghalaya. But many more remain on deputation for longer periods than they should normally do.

Those who are in the know, say it happens somewhat like this. A new entrant, like his counterpart in the rest of the country, joins the state IAS cadre, even if reluctantly, takes up his posting as an assistant commissioner in a district, moving up the ladder in due course to become a sub-divisional officer and then finally a deputy commissioner in charge of a district.

By the time his/her tenure as a DC ends, the officer has already spent six, seven years in the state. The next logical step is to serve time at the secretariat in the state capital. The moment s/he comes to the state capital, the officer begins to explore the possibility of cornering a central deputation that would take him to Delhi.

The first deputation is for a period of five years. So far, so good. Logically after five years, the officer has to be repatriated to the state for a cooling off period of two years. This rarely happens. Having made the necessary contacts in Delhi, the bureaucrat manages to get another posting outside the northeast.

It could be in the form of a home cadre posting under which the officer can go on deputation to his home cadre for six years, or in the form of a two-year study leave. Home cadre for a Keralite of the Assam-Meghalaya cadre would mean Kerala. That over, he can very well bag another posting in Delhi and remain outside the northeast for another five years, making it a total of 16 years outside the region.

As a former chief minister put it succintly a few years ago: "These 'briefcase bureaucrats' have very little interest in serving the region. They always look down upon the tenures in the northeast as punishment postings. When they are compelled to stay here, they are always looking for opportunities to visit Delhi, their briefcases ever ready for travel out to Delhi." The pronouncement may be a little harsh and sweeping as not every bureaucrat is a reluctant time-server, but the fact remains that over the past two decades the number of such officers has steadily increased.

By the time this officer comes back to the region, he has become a full-fledged secretary or principal secretary to the state government. This is the time where his stint as a "briefcase bureaucrat" begins. Having got his family settled in Delhi, he constantly wants to visit them. And what better way then to get the government to sponsor your visit each time.

As a senior secretary to the government, there are plenty of opportunities to attend meetings in Delhi. As a former senior bureaucrat puts it: "Every day, when you open your mail, there is an invitation for a meeting in Delhi. But it does not mean that the officer has to go to each of them. A resident commissioner is posted in Delhi precisely to handle such matters and liaise with the central government on behalf of each department of a state government. These days, however, the resident commissioner has become redundant." As a result many who reluctantly come back are always on the lookout for opportunities to travel to Delhi.

Why has this happened?

As H N Das, a former Assam chief secretary, says: "I see mainly three reasons for this tendency of running away from the area at the slightest opportunity. One, there is a feeling among most IAS and IPS officers belonging to cadres from the northeast that facilities for education of their children and the general standard of living is better in other parts of the country than in this region. Second, several of them enter the service with a definite career aim in mind. By remaining in the northeast, they feel that the chances of career advancement are very limited, which is true to a certain extent and finally, there is the unwritten caste system prevalent in the Service wherein officers of cadres from the northeast are looked down upon by their counterparts elsewhere in the country."

Agrees an Assamese IAS officer: "For any person, his family is most important. Everyone wants to give the best education to his children. As a result, most officers, when they take their first deputation outside the region, establish a base there. Later when they come back to the northeast, the family stays behind. Secondly, career opportunities for anyone serving in the region are limited and finally, the prevalent uncertainty of law and order makes many non-northeasterners wary of a posting in the region even if s/he belongs to the cadre here."

Like a senior secretary in the northeast says: "It is unfair to bunch all of us in one category. There are many of us who have willingly stayed put in the region and are doing their best." As a former chief minister said: "Only those who willingly opt for cadres of the northeastern states should be selected to serve here. If people are forced to join a cadre they do not work wholeheartedly for the good of the state."

This is easier said than implemented. Under the present scheme of things in the Union Public Services Commission, a candidate is given two choices. Only when s/he does not get his choice that he is allotted a cadre which clearly is not of her/his liking. To overcome this reluctance, the central government has given special facilities for those serving in the northeast. To begin with, they get what is called a Special Duty Allowance at the rate of 15 per cent of their basic salary and are allowed to retain the official quarters along with other facilities like telephone in Delhi even when the officer is posted in the northeast.

Despite these incentives, there are very few willing candidates for northeast cadres given the insurgency in the region and the general perception that the northeast is the most unsafe place to work in. Which begs the question, what is the solution to this dilemma? H N Das had suggested a simple solution. First, take away the special facilities like SDA and official quarters in Delhi and second apply a random method in allotting the cadres or simply employ the lottery system for selection so that there is no discrimination. It may be simplistic, but it could be an effective method.

Serving officers have their own point of view. As one of them puts it: "Why signal us out alone? Every central government undertaking, banks and other financial institutions follow the same practice. Moreover, officers coming to this region from outside in these sectors come for a fixed tenure and additionally get a choice posting after putting in two-year stint here. We are not afforded that luxury."

Points out another officer: "It is very well to say that we should be more involved in the region's well-being, but the fact is most politicians here want bureaucrats drawn from provincial services in key posts so that they can be easily manipulated. And then where is the guarantee of life?"

To bolster his case, the officer cites various examples of IAS officers killed or kidnapped by extremists. There are arguments and counter-arguments, but the fact is whatever the compulsions of these officers, the administration does get adversely affected in an already backward region due to the increasing tendency among officers to be reluctant participants in the affairs of the state.

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