If everything goes all right, Sumit Bose is likely to replace Ajit Seth as the next cabinet secretary. According to unconfirmed reports, this 1976 batch Madhya Pradesh cadre IAS officer who presently serves as revenue secretary will be the senior most IAS officer in the country in July 2013 when the UPA II completes its tenure. However, this scenario will emerge when the UPA II decides to bid goodbye to Seth, the UP cadre IAS officer who assumed the top bureaucratic post in May 2011.

In case, the UPA II lets Seth enjoy the fruits of power, he will have another five months, i.e. November 2013 when Seth reaches 62 years of age and will superannuate.

However, some senior secretaries to government of India believe that Seth will demit in July 2013 itself. Seth is an honest and straightforward officer and prime minister Manmohan Singh has been very much comfortable working with him. However, Seth has never served as secretary to government of India, which is why he does not seem to enjoy the confidence of senior secretaries. Although as the resident commissioner of Uttar Pradesh, Seth had rendered remarkable service to the state government.

Meanwhile, a fear psychosis resulting in lack of action continues to have the entire bureaucracy in its grip. According to unconfirmed reports, no important decisions have been taken and no file notings have been made by the secretaries since August 2012 – for the apprehension that they would be landing in prison like Siddharth Behura in 2G scam. A few secretaries conceded privately that they lacked confidence in the moral strength of political leadership and did not expect ministers to stand up and defend them (babus) in sensitive policy matters. Despite a serious push by the government for reforms, confidence of bureaucracy in their political masters is yet far from restored. A senior secretary to the government of India said on the condition of anonymity that he felt bad for being paid just for pushing files related to leave applications of class IV employees and replying to RTI queries.

Promotions of 62 IAS officers approved
Meanwhile, cabinet committee on appointments (CCA) has approved promotion of 62 IAS officers of 1993 batch as joint secretaries to government of India. The highest quota has gone to Andhra Pradesh from where seven IAS officers have been promoted as joint secretaries. Next on the list are Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh – five officials each from both states have made it to the list.

Intriguingly, UPA2 is not announcing promotion of 1979 IAS officers as secretaries to Government of India. According to reports, though the list is ready, there is no one to push it to the CCA. The officers, presently additional secretaries in various ministries, are eager to know about the file’s progress and its journey to the prime minister’s office. However, these officers do not have confidence in the establishment officer or personnel secretary or for that matter also the cabinet secretary. Many of them maintain that they will stand up and argue for the empanelled list to be made public. More interestingly, the 1983 batch IAS officers are yet to be promoted as additional secretaries. Sources in South Block say this is likely to happen in December.