New portal for PM Modi to track appointments, transfers & postings of senior IAS officers

The portal will allow Modi to have direct access to who is being appointed where, the posts lying vacant, who can be placed where and who is retiring.

Representational image | IAS officers being addressed by PM Narendra Modi | Photo: narendramodi.in

New Delhi: The Modi government is all set to develop a portal that will allow the prime minister to track and monitor the appointments, transfers and postings of senior civil servants in the central administration, ThePrint has learnt.

According to sources in the government, the portal is being developed by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, the Cabinet Secretariat, the Establishment Division of the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).

“The idea was recently communicated by the PMO to the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP),” a source said. “The portal would allow the PM to have direct, handy access to who is being appointed where, which are the posts lying vacant, who can be placed where, who is retiring, among others.”

The portal would minimise the role of officials coordinating with the PM regarding key postings, the source added.

‘No difference, just digitisation of the process’

Sources in the DoPT, however, said the portal will not result in any major change as under the Modi government, the prime minister has been having the last word on senior civil servant appointments.

As of now, the cabinet appointments committee is responsible for the posting of senior officials in the government. While earlier the committee consisted of the PM, the home minister and the minister of the ministry to which an officer was being appointed, the Modi government in its first term removed the minister from the committee.

Even the home minister had a ceremonial role in appointments during the first Modi term but with BJP president Amit Shah taking over the key portfolio, he has had a more significant say, a DoPT official said on condition of anonymity.

The DoPT official added that the decision to create the portal is only significant in the sense that it shows the PM’s focus on digitisation of government processes.

“In any case, the PM through his office has been deciding on all the appointments, transfers, etc of officers… All this portal would do is to give the PM electronic, digitised access to all the movements in the government.”