Several senior civil servants, most of them favourites of the political executive, never seem to hang their boots under the UPA government. The latest to join the list is defence secretary Pradeep Kumar, who has been appointed the next central vigilance commissioner (CVC).
Kumar, a 1972 batch IAS officer who was to retire on July 30, will soon take up his new assignment. He would be the CVC till September 29, 2014, when he turns 65.
Even as defence secretary, he served beyond his stipulated date of retirement. He was scheduled to retire on September 29, 2009, as the defence production secretary. But two months before that, he was made the defence secretary, a post that has a two-year fixed term.
While it isn't clear if these bureaucrats pull the right strings to defy the age barrier, the government definitely lacks the pool of talent to man its allied organisations and commissions, whose numbers have been steadily rising.
Obviously then, there is no dearth of career avenues for the superannuating sahibs under the government. Better still, the placement, in most cases, comes with the usual gift of power, perks, allowances and a handsome monthly take-home till the appointment lasts.
The sops come as tenure extensions, new postings and fresh assignments. And, the number of such lucky bureaucrats has been growing at a pace that is unprecedented.
The main beneficiaries of the system, perfected under a prime minister who has enjoyed such governmental placements for long before reaching the pinnacle of administration, are members of the three elite services - IAS, IPS and IFS.
These appointments are besides those of the lucky ones such as N.N. Vohra, Nikhil Kumar and M.K. Narayanan, who are serving as governors.
The case of former cabinet secretary K.M. Chandrasekhar is an interesting one. After enjoying two extensions of a year each as the country's senior-most bureaucrat, Chandrasekhar was appointed the vice-chairman of Kerala State Planning Board as soon as he retired.
Incidentally by then, a Congress-led government had assumed power in the southern state. Although a successor to foreign secretary Nirupama Rao has been named, the country's top diplomat has already been gifted the coveted assignment of being India's next ambassador to the US.
The nod for Rao's new job came much before her scheduled retirement on July 31. She was already on an extension of seven months when the government in last December decided to fix the term of foreign secretary at two years. The ambassadorial assignment, sources say, was to be Rao's, even if she had superannuated in December 2010.
Such out-of-turn gifts undermine the career prospects of officers from the succeeding batches, but that hasn't been a major cause of concern for a government whose ministerial age quotient tilts towards the 60-plus.
Meera Shankar, the diplomat whom Rao will replace in Washington, has already got two extensions. Like Rao, she now retires on July 31, though her retirement should have been October last year. Shankar got a two-month extension because US President Barack Obama was to visit India. Later, she was granted another extra stint of seven months, apparently to ensure that Rao becomes her successor.
The government reportedly turned down Shankar's request for another extension in her Washington posting, but chances of her landing yet another job, either as a special envoy of the PM or as an officer on special duty in the PMO, look bright.
From the IFS stable again, national security advisor Shiv Shankar Menon was selected for the high-profile job five months after he retired as foreign secretary on July 31, 2009. Menon's predecessor, Shyam Saran, was advisor to the PM on nuclear issues after he retired, besides being the country's envoy on climate change. He later quit on his own in February last year.
National Advisory Council member N.C. Saxena does not favour granting extensions to bureaucrats. "The Sixth Pay Commission had advised against such extensions. This has been ignored," he said.
Saxena, who has been a Planning Commission member, said, at the least, such bureaucrats should not be offered government housing and vehicles. "Some bureaucrats have been seeking re-employment to retain their houses in Delhi," he pointed out.
On the IAS front, Ashok Chawla, who retired as finance secretary in last January, was made chairman of a committee on allocation, pricing and utilisation of natural resources.
Earlier this month, the government nominated Chawla as chairman of Competition Commission of India (CCI). The buzz is that some key CCI members, who were senior to Chawla in the IAS, have expressed reservations against his appointment.
Another senior bureaucrat, G.K. Pillai, who recently retired as the home secretary after an extended tenure, is said to have a new assignment waiting for him. Pillai could become the next lieutenant governor of Delhi, though he has already expressed interest in teaching assignments.
Rajasthan Public Service Commission chairman M.L. Kumawat finds nothing wrong in post-retirement placement of talented officers with a clean image. "Unlike the West, bureaucrats in India retire early. Even after superannuation, their expertise can be valuable to society. But they should not lobby for such placements," Kumawat, a former Border Security Force directorgeneral, said.
Many top sleuths have also been lucky in this regard. Bihar cadre IPS officer P.C. Haldar, who retired as director of the Intelligence Bureau in December 2008, was made an interlocutor for talking with insurgent groups in Assam.