New Delhi (25.08.2021): Living up to the expectation of all and sundry, the Modi administration on August 23 surprised the bureaucracy yet again as ‘Unpredictability’ and ‘element of surprise’ have been its hallmark. Seven good years have gone by and it’s an open secret now that even those who are in the thick of things know very little about inside stories that often lead to such abrupt decisions.

The Appointment Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) on August 23 instantaneously shifted Katikithala Srinivas from North Block to Mussoorie. The 1989 batch IAS officer of Gujarat Cadre working as the Establishment Officer (EO) will now head the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA) in Mussoorie which is seen as a low key assignment though it has its own charm and pride to mentor the premier institution.

It may be underlined that Establishment Officer (EO), under the Department of Personnel and Training (DOPT), functions as Secretary to the Appointment Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) and facilitates all the top appointments and empanelment at Centre that makes it the most powerful post at the rank of Additional Secretary.

Sriniwas’ abrupt lateral-shifting invited many interpretations. At the face of it, people in the power corridors thought that Sriniwas was side-lined as he would have fallen out of sync. Some believed that he was moved from the North Block to Mussoorie as PM’s messenger to the academy to nurture his ‘Mission Karmayogi’ and give to it a further push.

A section of civil servants considered it as a stern message that if the blue-eyed officer like Katikithala could be shifted abruptly to an unexpected zone then others should think of themselves. Interestingly many theories were floated yet none defined Sriniwas’ departure from North Block to Mussoorie convincingly.

When Deepak Khandekar, a 1985 batch MP cadre IAS, was in January 2021 drafted as DOPT Secretary merely seven months ahead of his scheduled retirement people assumed that later Sriniwas would be drafted as Khandekar’s successor on his retirement in August 2021 but that is ruled out now.

About Sriniwas it is an open secret that PM Modi always entrusted him with key assignments be it the responsibility of setting up the world's tallest ‘Statue of Unity' at Kewadia which he supervised and accomplished in a record time with grace or be it the key responsibility of Joint Secretary DOPT and later as Establishment Officer.

But the abrupt shifting of the blue-eyed officer from an Additional Secretary rank post (EO) to another Additional Secretary rank post (Director, LBSNAA) still remains unexplained. What plans the government has with him for Sriniwas, only time will explain.

(By Rakesh Ranjan)