Bengaluru: An IAS versus IAS tussle appears to have played a role in the transfer of prominent Karnataka civil servant Rohini Sindhuri, who has a reputation of being an upright officer.
Sindhuri, a 2009-batch IAS officer, was transferred out as secretary, Karnataka Building and Construction Workers Welfare Board (KBCWWB), on 20 September. She had only been posted to the welfare board seven months ago.
ThePrint has now learnt that exactly a month before her transfer, on 20 August, Karnataka Labour Secretary P. Manivannan, a 1998-batch IAS officer, had written to the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) looking for Sindhuri’s replacement — he wanted an Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer to serve as the secretary of the workers welfare board.
The welfare board falls under the Labour department that Manivannan heads.
In his letter addressed to CBDT chairman Pramod Chandra Mody, Manivannan sought “an officer from the Indian Revenue Service with more than 10 years seniority and domiciled in Karnataka state”.
His letter added that it would be “ideal” to have an IRS officer rather than an IAS officer heading the workers welfare board.
“In this regard, may I request your good office to kindly let us know the names of officers willing to be posted as secretary of the board, so that I can forward the list to the Government of Karnataka with a request to choose one and write to the Government of India requesting the services of the said officers,” the letter reads.
The letter prompted Rang Lal Meena, an income tax officer attached to the Department of Revenue, CBDT, New Delhi, to call for officers willing to be posted to the board.
“I am directed to request that this letter may be circulated to all concerned officers in the rank of joint commissioner of Income Tax and above, with 10 years of experience,” reads Meena’s letter dated 19 September.
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Two officers at loggerheads
Sindhuri told ThePrint that she believes her objection to fund diversion from the welfare board wasn’t the only reason behind her transfer.
Sources had earlier told ThePrint that Sindhuri had been shunted out as she refused to divert nearly Rs 1,000 crore from the corpus fund of the workers’ welfare board for flood relief in the state — a move that has allegedly irked Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa.
Sindhuri said that another major factor in her transfer was that she and Manivannan had a fallout over launching a helpline for construction workers in the state. She alleged that while she wanted to float a tender for the helpline, Manivannan insisted that she hand over the project to the state-run Karnataka State Electronics Development Corporation Limited (KEONICS).
“Truth has an uncanny way of coming out. There was a need to call him out and expose what has happened and that’s what I did,” Sindhuri told ThePrint. “My transfer could be the price I am paying for it but I will continue to work hard and relentlessly.”
Manivannan, however, dismissed the allegations.
“The allegation (that he was behind her transfer) is baseless,” he told ThePrint. “We are just two IAS officers in the Labour department. I have been transferred several times in my career too; there is no logic to her allegation.”
He also insisted that he too had wanted a tender for the helpline. “I am surprised by her statement on the helpline. I have issued a government order to go for a tender,” he said.
“It was dated 7 August and she called for tender as well. I told her not to delay it. We wanted expedite work as we were under pressure as we had received a notice from the State Human Rights Commission.”
The Labour secretary also told the Deccan Chronicle that he wrote the letter as he felt an IRS officer would handle funds better in the welfare board. “As we have a lot of funds here, I felt an IRS officer could handle it carefully,” he said. “That’s why I wrote a letter in this regard. Just because I sent a request to the CBDT, it does not mean it was final as it had to be finally approved by the chief secretary and the government.”
The welfare board has an annual budget of Rs 100 crore. It has, however, managed to accumulate a corpus fund of Rs 8,000 crore through the welfare cess collected from builders and individuals constructing houses.
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Sir,I think all Kannada news channels are creating fear among people about covid 19. Their content is scary,the language,the background music,their intonation is scary.Im not scared or panicked but what about the people.Teach the basic ethics,what is journalism?and it importance?