Sun shines for retiring Babus in Bihar

Bihar Chief Secretary Navin Kumar is set to be one of the few lucky IAS officers who will never know the pangs of retirement as he has got a plum posting as the Director General of the newly created Centre for Good Governance Society (CGGS), even before he is to actually retire on August 31.

 This is not a solitary case; many other senior officers also got similar patronage from the state government. Those who are in the good books of the powers that be often get plum postings after their retirement, but it’s never been so good for former bureaucrats and police officials in Bihar.

 A post-retirement assignment as the head of a panel, board, or commission is common practice. What’s new is that bureaucrats and police officials are getting new assignments in positions where there is little scope for them.

 For example, exbureaucrats steeped in a culture of secrecy are being made information commissioners.

 Similarly former senior police officers are made members of the State Human Rights Commission though their records on human rights, while in service, wasn’t exactly spotless.

 Former Bihar chief secretary RJM Pillai is the latest to benefit from the state government’s large-heartedness. On August 11, he took over as the Chief Information Commissioner of the Bihar State Information Commission, replacing Ashok Kumar Choudhary, who was also a former chief secretary of the state.

 After Choudhary (1972 batch) and Pillai (1973 batch), other officers who got good post-retirement ‘postings’ are former development commissioners K C Saha (1975 batch), and S Vijayraghavan (1973 batch), former home secretary U N Panjiar (1973 batch), Shakil Ahmed (1972 batch), former DGPs Shiv Chandra Jha and Neelmani.

Former additional director general of police Rajyavardhan Sharma, who retired last year, was appointed as member of Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC).