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Left govt makes truce with IAS officials

The Communist Party of India-Marxist-led Left Democratic Front in Kerala appears to have made truce with the bureaucracy with a view to stemming the flight of senior IAS officers from the state.

The number of IAS men aspiring to move to Delhi has been on the increase ever since the government started booking officials under its anti-corruption drive. To reverse the trend, the government headed by Chief Minister E K Nayanar has been forced to rehabilitate suspended IAS officers.

Another reason for the ''soft stand'' seems to be that the state government is finding it difficult to find efficient men to handle key positions.

Acting under this compulsion, the government has recalled three IAS officers suspended on various counts. They are P K Mohanty, Amitabh Kant and Teekaram Meena, all of whom were in the bad books of the LDF leadership.

By giving Mohanty the key job of director of public relations, the Left government also seems to be sending out the right signal. For, the posting, under the LDF regime, is normally reserved for committed officials, even it meant antagonising the IAS cadre by roping in a non-IAS person.

Mohanty has replaced a trusted man like L Natarajan.

Mohany, who was suspended as member, Revenue Board, has been on the Communists' hit-list. He was shunted from one post to the other till he was finally suspended.

However, the LDF bosses do not seem to doubt his efficiency -- it was during his tenure as district collector that Malappuram got an award for total literacy and he was intrumental in turning around the sick Malabar Cements as its managing director.

Similarly, Amitabh Kant and Tikaram Meena are considered efficient. Kant, who was suspended as managing director of the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation, is still awaiting his posting.

Another significant posting has been that of Nalini Netto -- after her training in England -- as the chairman and managing director of the prestigious Kerala Financial Corporation.

Nalini, who was in the good books of the erstwhile Congress regime, had to step down as tourism secretary when the LDF came to power. She had to taste two more transfers before going for the London training.

By doing this, the Communist government was only living up to its reputation. The Left and the bureaucracy have always been at loggerheads, with the former suspecting the officials of being close to the Congress.

The Communists feel the IAS men had backed the Congress in its liberation struggle which brought down the first Left ministry headed by E M S Namboodiripad.

Nayanar had often said that senior officials were not co-operating with the government and were trying to discredit it. The same charge has been levelled by LDF convener V S Achutanandan.

The IAS men naturally felt alienated when the Left is in power. The feeling has been more acute this time as the Nayanar government, under the anti-corruption drive, has booked a large number of officials.

At present, more than 4,000 employees are facing vigilance cases, as per data provided in the state assembly. More than 700 employees have been suspended since the LDF assumed power in 1996.

One sad aspect of the mutual antagonism has been the reluctance of senior officers to take initiative. They appear scared to take decisions on controversial issues.

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