Transfer orders were issued in November last year, within three months after Smriti Irani took over as I&B minister, purportedly to revamp PIB.
New Delhi: Newly-appointed information and broadcasting minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore is unlikely to reverse what is seen as the arbitrary transfers of Indian Information Service officers — ordered by his predecessor Smriti Irani — in one go, ThePrint has learnt.
Sources said many of the affected officers are planning to approach Rathore seeking his intervention in the matter.
“He may look at individual representations, and consider them if he feels so, although he may not be reversing the transfers in one go,” a source familiar with the development said.
However, Rathore, who took charge as I&B minister replacing Irani following a recent cabinet reshuffle, is yet to receive any representation, the source added.
IIS officers facilitate communications between the government, media and people. They are primarily posted in different ministries and are in-charge of communication and media units.
The genesis of transfers
The transfer orders were issued in November last year, within three months after Irani took over as I&B minister, apparently to revamp of the Press Information Bureau — the official communication arm of the central government.
The idea was to “strengthen” its regional communication outreach even as most of the regional offices of PIB are said to lack even basic infrastructure.
By February, more than 150 officers were transferred across the country, after they were interviewed by Irani and I&B secretary N.K. Sinha. The transfers also included those who were on the verge of retirement.
‘Arbitrary transfers’, say officers
As a result, the entire media unit was in confusion for months even as at least five officers put in their papers after they were forced to move out.
Refusing to accept what they call “arbitrary transfers”, about 20 officers have gone on leave. For those, who tried to delay or stop the transfers, memos were issued to them by the ministry.
The officers had also complained to the Prime Minister’s Office about the transfers.
In a letter to the PMO, Anindya Sengupta, president of IIS Group-A Officers’ Association, said the transfer orders did not follow any policy or guidelines and had affected a fourth of the cadre.
Sengupta, a director at Doordarshan News at the time, was subsequently transferred to the ministry’s publications division.
Apart from the transfers, several IIS officers were removed from the positions they were holding in the different units under the I&B ministry and were put on compulsory wait, without even being provided with any reason for the decision.
Many officers are hoping to get reinstated in their earlier positions in the media units under the ministry.
Sengupta declined to comment on the issue when reached by ThePrint.