A joint director of the Enforcement Directorate, who probed the 2G scam and is part of other sensitive cases, has made a scathing attack on revenue secretary Hasmukh Adhia questioning him if he has developed animosity against him by “siding with scamsters and their affiliates”.

In a letter dated 11 June, 2018 sent through ED director Karnal Singh, Rajeshwar Singh said in the last 20 years, all his appraisal reports, written by more than 50 senior IAS, IPS and IRS officers, have uniformly rated his performance as “outstanding”.

“Why do you disregard their opinion? Is it possible for me to have managed all of them over a period of time,” he wrote.

Singh who was a UP police officer had joined the Directorate on deputation. The letter became public on Wednesday when the Supreme Court, which had given Singh protection from any action against him in the past, modified its orders.

The Supreme Court maintained that the Centre was free to look into the “serious” charges against ED officer Rajeshwar Singh, probing the “highly sensitive” 2G spectrum allocation scam cases including the Aircel-Maxis deal.

“You are simply an officer. You can’t be given a blanket clean chit. Everybody is accountable. You must be accountable for any action. We need to ensure that you are accountable. We don’t want to damage you or comment against you. There are very serious allegations against you,” the bench of justices Arun Mishra and S.K. Kaul told the officer.

In the letter to Adhia, Rajeshwar Singh has said “It pained me further that you have expressed many a times to senior officers over casual conversations that I have been manipulating the judiciary, especially the Supreme Court of India.” “It is strange and also unbelievable that after so may years in public service, you believe that so many judges can be manipulated and that too over such a long period of time,” he said.

Singh told Adhia that he had sought a personal meeting from him for explaining his side which was not granted. He said former finance minister P. Chidambaram “sported an open and direct grudge against him” because of Supreme Court monitored Aircel-Maxis investigation.

“However, what thoroughly baffles the undersigned, is the animosity you have fashioned against me by siding with scamsters and their affiliates in a sustained manner. It has become more than difficult for me to survive this continued onslaught and persistent vilification from all the quarters for doing my job,” he said.

Singh said the attorney general (AG) had requested the Supreme Court to order providing protection for him as the AG was convinced that he was being “hounded” but “you (Adhia) do not seem to agree” with the law officer too. He said his promotion in the grade of additional director, ED was due from 1 April, 2017 which is being processed in the finance ministry but it has been more than seven months and there has been “absolutely” no progress.

“I am astutely aware that this is being done to not just humiliate me but also to ensure that the investigation in certain crucial cases I handle, ought to derail. May I beg to ask if you are compromising on larger aspects of our national interest to set scores on an ego trip that is absolutely uncontested from my side,” he said. (PTI)

Recently Narendra Modi government allowed to induct private and public sector talent “laterally” at the joint secretary level in 10 key Union ministries/departments. This decision of NaMo government faced many criticisms from various opposition sections across India.

This action of NaMo Government somehow instigated “The Indian Revenue Services (IRS) Association of India” as they have written a sharply –worded eight-page letter dated 22nd June 2018 to the Prime Minister to show their disappointment with the current differential policy of empanelment for the post of the Joint Secretary, Additional secretary and Secretary at the central government. They conveyed via letter that “merit and competence” are also there in other central services, other than the Indian Administrative Services (IAS). Association has alleged “bias” in favour of IAS officers in the matter of empanelment and selection for the post of the Joint Secretary, Additional secretary and Secretary.

As of now, no officer from the IRS is working at the secretary-level and even at the additional secretary-level. They are not happy with the current system of empanelment and found systematic discrimination in the selection process. This has led to a negligible number of officers from Indian Revenue Services having an opportunity to work at that level. At the level of the Joint Secretary, Additional secretary and joint Secretary in the government, appointments are made based on “affiliation to the IAS”, ignoring the “merit and competence of other services”.

Currently there are 81 secretary-level officers in the central government, 57 belong to the IAS, and only 24 comprise from other services and lateral entries.

The IRS association has somehow found the ‘’the current differential policy of empanelment” for IAS officers and other central service officers “humiliating.” and requested to Prime Minister to bring change in the “arbitrary and discriminatory system of empanelment and selection of officers at higher levels in the government”.

In the letter, IRS Association blamed Central Staffing Scheme (CSS), which is responsible for allocating central government posts to eligible officers from various services for tweaking the rules for appointment to the posts of secretary and additional secretary.

According to the letter, officers from all 37 services were eligible for the secretary and additional secretary posts but in 2001, the eligibility criterion was tweaked by bringing a differential of two years between IAS officers and those from other central services. This effectively meant that officers of central services such as the revenue, forest and postal services, are equated to IAS officers who are two batches junior to them despite of the fact that they have entered in the system through same exam.

IAS officers need to have 32 years of experience in service to be eligible for secretary-level positions in the central government, whereas their counterparts require over 34-35 years of experience, before which most officers retire, the letter states.

Letter also quotes the chairman of Seventh Central Pay Commission, Justice A.K. Mathur, who had observed that “over a period of time IAS has arrogated to itself all power of governance and relegated all other services to a secondary position.”

It’s high time for the NaMo government to take the issue raised by the IRS Association before the gap between IAS and other services widens much which may impact the overall governance and country at large.