Law Minister Veerappa Moily has always been one of the more intelligent members in the UPA government. Yet, he has defied a basic principle of good administration: Retaining the services of former Law Secretary PK Viswanathan as his adviser despite Viswanathan’s retirement a couple of weeks ago. Moily should realise that this is bound to make DR Meena, the new law secretary, feel insecure and resentful with the shadow of his predecessor looming large over the ministry. However, if the objective was to give Viswanathan a post-retirement sinecure, Moily could have found him a job in any of the statutory bodies where vacancies arise almost every other week. But now that he has chosen to retain Viswanathan as his adviser, he will have to smooth a few ruffled feathers.
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