It’s minister vs minister over plum post to aide

DEHRADUN:Uttarakhand Education Minister Arvind Pandey has criticised his Cabinet colleague and Minister for Department of Labour Harak Singh Rawat for his decision to depute his close associate Damyanti Rawat as additional chief executive officer, Uttarakhand Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board.

Neena Sharma

Tribune News Service

Dehradun, January 17

Uttarakhand Education Minister Arvind Pandey has criticised his Cabinet colleague and Minister for Department of Labour Harak Singh Rawat for his decision to depute his close associate Damyanti Rawat as additional chief executive officer, Uttarakhand Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board.

Meanwhile, a departmental inquiry has been instituted against Damyanti Rawat. The Department of Education has refused to clear Damyanti Rawat’s deputation, nixing her appointment as additional chief executive officer in the welfare board.

Known for taking unilateral decisions without a care for the rules, Harak Singh had unilaterally passed the proposal for the appointment of Damyanti.

In this latest episode, a special post was created to adjust Damyanti, though there is no provision for it.

This is not the first time that Harak Singh has courted controversy due to his penchant for adjusting his relatives and associates and rewarding them with plum posts in the departments that are directly under him.

As the Minister for Horticulture and Agriculture in the erstwhile Congress government, Harak Singh had deputed Damyanti Rawat as Director, Seed and Organic Certification Board. That time, Damyanti Rawat had not even thought it fit to seek a no-objection certificate from her parent Department of Education and had just taken up the new post of the Director. A bitter war of words had then ensued between former Education Minister Mantri Prasad Naithani and Harak Singh after which the former Chief Minister was forced to intervene, but not without giving approval for Damyanti’s appointment.

However, this time, things seem to have turned out differently for Harak Singh and may not be a smooth sailing for his associate. As sources claim, Chief Minister TS Rawat has refused to support such violations and has left it on Pandey to tackle the issue. “This is a serious matter, rules cannot be broken just because there is a powerful person supporting you. I have been against the practice of deploying teachers in other departments,” said Arvind Pandey.

The Uttarakhand Department of Education has set up an official inquiry against Damyanti Rawat for her refusal to join her parent department, failing to take up transfer at Pithoragarh and also failing to respond to a charge sheet.

It’s tough for Harak

This time, things seem to have turned out differently for Labour Minister Harak Singh. As sources claim, Chief Minister TS Rawat has refused to support such violations and has left it on Education Minister Arvind Pandey to tackle the issue.