If there has been one thing that the new BJP government in Madhya Pradesh can claim distinction in is the speed with which it has been passing transfer orders for the IAS officers. A transfer list has been issued after about every five days during the past ten months since the new government took over in December last year. It means no week passes away without some IAS officers not getting transferred in the state.
IAS officers have been issued marching orders 68 times in last ten months. It has happened despite the fact that there could be no transfer of officers for two and half months as the model code of conduct was in force because of the Lok Sabha election.
At present, there are 385 officers of the MP cadre working in the state, and out of 385, 282 officers were transferred several times. Situation is so grim that a few officers have been transferred thrice or four times after the government formation. These officers are Smita Bhardwaj (IAS:1992:MP), Sanjay Dubey (IAS:1993:MP), Manish Rastogi (IAS:1994:MP), Deepali Rastogi (IAS:1994:MP), Umakant Umrao (IAS:1996:MP), Sukhveer Singh (IAS:1996:MP), Vivek Porwal (IAS:2000:MP), and Navneet Kothari (IAS:2001:MP). Besides, many officers are looking after more than one department so more transfers are on cards to balance their work.
The most fortunate exception to this rule have been the Additional Chief Secretary of Panchayat and Rural Development Department, Malay Shrivastava (IAS:1990:MP), and the Principal Secretary of Tourism and Culture Department, Sheo Shekhar Shukla (IAS:1994:MP), who have not been shifted so far. Except the duo, the officers of all other departments have been transferred.
