Defending his authority to transfer senior officials despite opposition from some of his Cabinet colleagues, Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi on Monday said that he ordered the transfers in the light of the Cabinet resolution of 2007 and there was no violation of the Civil Services Code.
Manjhi's two Ministers Rajiv Ranjan Singh lalan and PK Shahi had publicly questioned the way the CM shuffled IAS officers mostly secretaries of various departments. "There is a standing committee, which decides the reasons for the transfer," the CM added. But he pointed out that transfers and postings of the bureaucrats is done keeping in view the governance and there was nothing wrong or scandalous in what he did.
"I have been consulting the Ministers before transfer and sometimes on their opposition changed the decision. I don't know why the two Ministers raised their objections. My effort has to strengthen the governance and work culture," Manjhi added. To a query if he was not satisfied with the works of the certain bureaucrats shifted recently he quipped, "You can say I was not satisfied with their work."
The transfers made over a fortnight back had raised many eyebrows with some alleging that the CM singled out certain senior IAS officials who are close to former CM Nitish Kumar. They were shifted to comparatively less important posts and replaced with his favourite officials, some of them given additional charge of more than two departments. What surprised the bureaucratic circles is that many of those officials had been transferred within three months of their postings.
The conduct of the two Ministers came under sharp criticism from the Opposition. BJP leaders said that it only showed the deep chasm in the ruling party and the Government that pro-Nitish Kumar Ministers were challenging the Chie Minister's authority to transfer the officials. Some even demanded sacking of the Ministers.
Meanwhile, Union Minister for Water Resources Uma Bharti on Monday called on Manjhi and discussed various issues related to floods, Central fund and river linking. Expressing his satisfaction with the talks, Manjhi said the Union Minister had agreement on different issues with the State Government and even asked her officials to correct the policies.
Manjhi was surprised to know that the Government of India pays compensation to Nepal for the damages caused by the rivers originating from Nepal but on the contrary when the same rivers cause havoc in Bihar almost every year, Bihar is not compensated. She also agreed to raise the matter with the Nepal Government on raising the height of the dams on these rivers in Nepal. The meeting was also attended by Bihar Water Resources Development Minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary.