UD Secretary complaint taken up to FM by IAS officers' association

The IAS officers' association will take up the issue of Urban Development Secretary Sudhir Krishna's complaint against Finance Minister P Chidambaram for allegedly humiliating him during a meeting, the association secretary said today.

IAS officers' association secretary Sanjay R Bhoos Reddy said the matter would be discussed at a meeting of its executive committee and any appropriate action would be taken on the basis of deliberation there.

"The matter would be discussed in the executive committee meeting and as per resolution of the association appropriate action would be taken," Reddy told PTI.

Reddy, however, said the over 4,700-member strong association has not been approached by Krishna or anybody else on his behalf.

In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh through Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath, Krishna has complained about Chidambaram's remark to him in an alleged "tone and tenor that was expressly humiliating".

Referring to a recent official meeting where they were present, Krishna claimed that Chidambaram told him during the meeting that he could not understand his English.

He further claimed that the Minister said he should speak in Hindi which his officers will translate for him in English.

The meeting was called to discuss release of additional central assistance for the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) projects that were already sanctioned but were pending for release of funds by the Finance Ministry.

Reacting to the controversy, Chidambaram said there was no question of hurting anyone's feelings.

"I don't know what the controversy is about. He was speaking in a mixture of Hindi and English which I could not understand. I told him that he may speak in English, or, if he was more comfortable speak in Hindi and someone could help me understand...

"There was no question of hurting anyone's feelings," the Finance Minister said in a statement. There are 4,737 IAS officers in the country.