Kerala's own A-G
The top law officer of the country KK Venugopal will be the first Attorney General from Kerala. Although this has brought cheer for Malayali lawyers practicing in the Supreme Court, they are also an upset lot. Venugopal, due to his fame and prolific knowledge of law, used to be the first choice for clients from Kerala. Moreover, the common language factor proved beneficial for lawyers from the state to brief Venugopal. That will have to change now since the A-G, as a norm, abstains from private practice.
EC plays safe
The Election Commission has chosen not to go with the routine process of appointing Secretaries of Vidhan Sabha as the Returning Officers in Delhi and Haryana for the Presidential polls. In Haryana, the Commission has chosen labour Commissioner Pankaj Agarwal as ARO, in place of Assembly Secretary RK Nandal due to the Rajya Sabha election controversy last year. Similarly, in Delhi, the Commission has chosen two IAS Deputy Commissioners - Amzad Tak and Abhishek Dev - posted in south Delhi and south-west Delhi, respectively, in place of Assembly Secretary Prasanna Kumar Suryadevara to conduct the election. Suryadevara is in a legal tangle with the Centre over his transfer as the Secretary, Vidhan Sabha.
Bollywood calling
Several Bollywood directors are reported to be making a beeline to IAS couple Dr Shalini Rajneesh and Rajneesh Goel, who have written a book in Kannada titled 'IAS Dampathiya Kanasugalu' (Dreams of an IAS couple) documenting the couple's real-life inspiring story. The filmmakers wish to make a movie based on the book. Rajneesh Goel is the Additional Chief Secretary (Energy Department) in Karnataka, while Dr Shalini Rajneesh is the Principal Secretary (Health & Family Welfare Department) in the State.
Merger on mindIJ
Secretary (Urban Development) Durga Shankar Mishra will also look into the charge of Housing Ministry as Secretary (HUPA) Nandita Chatterjee retired on June 30. Grapevine has it that the Centre is not in a mood to appoint a new secretary for housing as a proposal for merging Urban Development and Housing Ministry is pending before the Cabinet. The Ministry has asked Mishra to look into the charge of housing for now.
Offshore dig
Amid the hectic campaigns for the presidential polls of Congress-led opposition's nominee Meira Kumar and NDA's Ram Nath Kovind, a senior BJP leader took a swipe at Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, who returned from holidaying abroad on Saturday, by saying "Modiji ki chinta hai ki 6.60 lakh votes kaise ayenge, aur Soniaji ki chinta hai ki Rahul ka vote kaise layenge."
CPM duplicity
The CPM did not allow Kerala's Finance Minister Thomas Issac to attend the GST launch function at Central Hall. Issac was Chairman of key GST committees and was very much in Delhi on Friday. But at the same time, senior CPM leader and former Finance Minister from West Bengal Asim Dasgupta attended the function with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley even praising him for attending the function. A CPM leader sought to hush up the matter saying Dasgupta belonged to the old Bhadralok class and party dictum does not apply to him.
Costly bypass
Even a strong recommendation from NK Sinha, former Culture Secretary, did not help Rakesh Tiwari, DG, ASI, to retain his post after completion of his tenure in May. With Union Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma not keen on his continuation, Tiwari hung his boots on June 16. Grapevine has it that Tiwari was initially keen to continue for three years but later sought an extension for only six months. Sharma was not happy at the way Sinha had sent Tiwari's file directly to the Cabinet bypassing him. Additional Secretary (Culture) Sujata Prasad has been now given additional charge of DG, ASI. Sinha is now I&B Secretary.