Hyderabad: Forum for Good Governance (FFG) general secretary Padmanabh Reddy on Wednesday wrote to Telangana chief minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao (KCR) to “dispense” off ex-bureaucrats who have been appointed as advisors to the state government post retirement.
Stating out that the salary of each retired bureaucrat in the Telangana government amounts to an expense of about Rs 50 lakh per month (including salary of supporting staff), Padmanabh Reddy said that there are close to a dozen bureaucrats who have been appointed as advisors to the government with a cabinet rank.
“Appointing the retired bureaucrats as advisors is sending wrong signal to working bureaucrats, especially at the top. After the formation of Telangana, barring a few exceptions, many retired chief secretaries and DGPS was accommdoated as advisors. Political obedience of senior bureaucrats, encourages corruption and obstructs the rule of law,” said Padmanabh Reddy, a retired government official himself, in his letter on behalf of FFG to KCR.
He added that appointing scientists, economists and people with specialised knowledge as advisors is justified and not bureaucrats. The FFG general secretary added that the administration should not become a “rehabilitation centre for retired bureaucrats”.
A day earlier on May 9, former Telangana chief secretary Somesh Kumar has been appointed as the chief advisor to Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekhar Rao after taking up voluntary retirement from the Andhra Pradesh government.
He has been appointed to the ranks of a Cabinet Minister.
Somesh Kumar resigned as senior IAS officer to the Andhra Pradesh government in February, after the Telangana High Court directed him to return to the state, post bifurcation. The High Court denied the allotment of chief secretary Somesh Kumar to the Telangana cadre stating that he belongs to the Andhra Pradesh cadre.
