Defence secretary Pradeep Kumar chosen the new CVC

Keeping with the trend of recent bureaucratic appointments, another uncontroversial and traditional, but, by no means brilliant, bureaucrat was unanimously chosen the next Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC), four months after the Supreme Court quashed the appointment of PJ Thomas to the post.

Defence secretary Pradeep Kumar, who retires from the post on July 31, was chosen by consensus by a panel comprising prime minister Manmohan Singh, home minister P Chidambaram and leader of opposition in Lok Sabha , Sushma Swaraj.

Kumar, who will turn 62 in September, is a Haryana cadre IAS officer of the 1972 batch. He will have a three-year term as he would have to demit office upon attaining the age of 65 under the CVC Act.
 

THE ROAD SO FAR...

Sep 20,1997 to Sep 11, 2002: Joint Secretary, Ministry of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises

April 10, 2003 to Dec 19, 2003: Resident Commissioner, Haryana Bhavan

Dec 19, 2003 to Jun 23, 2006: Additional secretary, Mines & Minerals, Coal

Oct 4,2006 to Jul 30,2007: Chairman, National Highways Authority of India

Jul 30, 2007 to Aug 1, 2008: Secretary, Dept of Disinvestment, Ministry of Finance

Feb 2, 2008 to Jul 2009: Secretary, Defence Production

Jul 14, 2009 till present: Defence secretary

Sushma Swaraj, who had opposed in writing the appointment of Thomas as CVC, had no objection to Kumar’s candidature.

“The name has been finalised...I have not raised any objection,” Swaraj told reporters after a 20-minute meeting at the prime minister’s official residence, without disclosing the name.

Sources said a list of probable candidates was prepared by the Department of Personnel and Training, which, then, placed it before the selection panel.

Apart from Kumar, names figuring in the initial list include former home secretary GK Pillai (who had written to the government, opting out of the race) former chemicals and fertilisers secretary Bijoy Chatterjee, former secretary, legislative affairs, V K Bhasin, former urban development secretary M Ramachandran and personnel secretary Alka Sirohi.

On March 3, the Supreme Court had set aside the appointment of Thomas as CVC. It had also laid down stringent guidelines for future CVC appointments.

The apex court had termed as “illegal” the September 3, 2010, recommendation for appointment of Thomas as CVC as the high-powered committee did not consider the pending chargesheet against him in the palmolein import scam.

Pradeep Kumar’s colleagues describe him as a bureaucrats’ bureaucrat, wedded to procedures and systems. He is not known to take decisions quickly — officers who have worked with him say files were cleared at an unhurried pace and Kumar was prone to read each file very thoroughly, taking his time to decide. None of the decisions he took were outstanding for their deliberation or brilliant in their foresight. However, he is known as an officer who never got into a controversy or quarrel.

In Haryana, it is hard not to be a committed bureaucrat. Early in his career, he enjoyed a good equation with the then chief minister Bhajan Lal. But, when he got on the wrong side of the latter, his father in law – then, an Income Tax Commissioner — had to intervene to prevent him from being posted in the boondocks. Despite the thorny relationship between bureaucrats and politicians in the state, Kumar was known for his integrity: His posting as the town and country planner (Haryana) was blemishless. He has never had a vigilance enquiry against him.

Kumar is not known for standing up for subordinate officers when they get into scraps with MLAs or ministers. In that sense, he is not known as a strong superior.

The President of India will have to swear him in as CVC. He will retire as defence secretary on 31 July. Chances are the government notification and his swearing in will take place only after that.