The Times of India      12.09.2014 

Civic admin ignores mayor's order to transfer staff

NASHIK: It's been two months since city mayor Yatin Wagh's directive of transferring employees working for more than three years in the same department in the Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC), but the civic administration is yet to take action.

The all party corporators during the General Body Meeting (GBM) of the NMC had urged the mayor to transfer employees working in the same department for over three years. Accordingly, Wagh had directed the civic officials to make the transfers at the earliest. But the civic administration has not taken any action in this connection.

Speaking to TOI, a civic body official said, "We are in the process of collecting information pertaining to the employees' duration in their respective departments. We have already asked all the heads of the departments to submit such information. Besides, since the code of conduct is likely to come into effect any time now in view of the forthcoming state assembly elections, we have decided to transfer employees once the polls are over. The list of transfers of employees would also be ready by then."

There are close to 6,000 employees in various departments of municipal corporations like health, public works department, town planning department, electric, estate, legal, property tax, water tax and local body tax department. Besides the Rajiv Gandhi Bhavan, the headquarters of the civic body, there are six divisional offices of the NMC - Nashik East, Nashik West, Panchavati, Nashik Road, Satpur and Cidco.

At the GBM, the mayor had also asked all the officials to remain present during visitors' hours from 3pm to 5pm daily for the convenience of the citizens and public representatives. The civic administration was directed to issue a fresh circular in this connection.

The Hindu      08.09.2014  

Civic officials’ managerial skills tested

The Prime Minister’s address to students on Teachers’ Day gave officials in the three municipal corporations an opportunity to test their event management skills.

With hundreds of children congregating at primary schools to watch the telecast on September 5, officials tried to make sure the arrangements were in place. Television sets, dish antennas and set-top boxes were rented for schools that did not have these facilities. At other schools, projectors and screens were put up. Teachers and principals turned up in their finest saris to play host. They made sure there were snacks for visitors and that the children maintained silence.

Despite all the planning, there were some glitches.

At the Turkman Gate primary school, rain disrupted the satellite signal and the electricity connection was unreliable. Since mediapersons had gathered at the school, the Deputy Director of Education of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation was sent to have things sorted out.

Though the children missed the first 10-15 minutes, the signal was secured with the help of members of a television crew.

While political circles in the city are abuzz with prospects of the Bharatiya Janata Party forming the government in Delhi, the topic of discussion in bureaucratic circles is transfer and postings of senior officers. Ever since the BJP came to power at the Centre, the local BJP leaders have been lobbying for transfer of some senior IAS officers, especially those “who were appointed at key positions by the Aam Aadmi Party government”.

Removal of Chief Secretary S. K. Srivastava is being seen through that prism.

Sources in the Delhi Secretariat said some officers are being targeted as they are seen to be ‘hurting the interest’ of some political big-wigs. “Lakhs of bogus ration cards have been weeded out over the last few months. It has hurt the nexus of ration shop owners and traders who are protected by some politicians across the party lines,” an official said, while giving the reason for some recent transfers.

Delhi High Court Judge Hima Kohli has been appointed patron of a new group, Women in Law and Litigation (WILL), established in the Capital as a first-of-its-kind platform to provide support to women lawyers, judges and jurists to achieve excellence in the field of law.

The unique initiative has received support from Supreme Court Judge Ranjana Desai and High Court Chief Justice G. Rohini.

WILL was inaugurated at a function organised in the SCOPE Complex Auditorium on Friday evening, where the leading lights of law laid emphasis on encouraging women to join the legal profession and providing them opportunities for career growth, besides creating a safe and secure atmosphere for them.

Delivering the keynote address on “Role of women in law and litigation”, Justice Rohini said while the legal profession was a bastion of male dominance, the WILL would provide a platform to women professionals to share and learn from each other’s experiences and innovative ideas.

Justice Hima Kohli said the legal profession was demanding and could burden women with expectations, while hoping that the initiative would help them become successful.

WILL vice-president and senior advocate Prathiba M. Singh pointed out that Delhi had the highest number of women judges in comparison with other States in the country.

(Damini Nath, Vishal Kant & Mohammed Iqbal)