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Another Commission, but reforms
nowhere in sight
WSN Network
JALANDHAR: After
allowing many a good suggestions and reform charters to gather dust
in the corridors of Punjab Civil Secretariat, the Punjab Government
has once again claimed that it was so serious about administrative
reforms that it appointed an Administrative Reforms Commissioner
with Cabinet rank.
Punjab CM
Parkash Singh Badal appointed Dr Pramod Kumar as Chairman of the
Administrative Reforms Commission while the other members are to
appointed soon but there was little mention of similar ventures
earlier. Interestingly, just a day before Dr Kumar’s appointment,
Akali Dal’s spin masters got a story planted in several leading
newspapers that extolled the great attention that Akali Dal
president Sukhbir Singh Badal was paying towards administrative
reforms and how the new commission will work out path breaking
strategies under Sukhbir’s guidance. Clearly, the seriousness of the
reforms venture fell in the realm of doubt if one considers the fate
of earlier similar good intentioned moves.
Punjab already
has a Department of Administrative Reforms with Narinderjit Singh as
its administrative secretary.
Little has been
heard of an earlier venture of bureaucrat JS Kesar who had prepared
a report on administrative reforms. Kesar is now retired, the report
has gathered dust and little reform has taken place.
A few months
ago, the state government had set up two committees, one under the
chairmanship of senior IAS officer Kusumjit Sidhu and the other
under Suresh Kumar, to prepare a detailed report on administrative
reforms. Both Sidhu and Suresh Kumar, assisted by brilliant young
IAS officers, prepared lengthy reports and submitted them to the
Punjab
government, which has already approved their recommendations but
never acted on it. Interestingly, Dr Kumar’s appointment coincided
with his Institute for Development and Communication (IDC) moving
into a new swank premises in Sector 38 of Chandigarh from its Sector
22 first floor rented accommodation.
7 January 2009
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