Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Former chief secretary (CS) Veera Rana retired on September 30. Her tenure as CS was for ten months. She will be known as such a CS who also kept the additional charge of the chairman of the Secondary Education Board.

She, however, did not visit the board office in her ten-month tenure as CS even for a while. There were many slip-ups in a few decisions taken during her tenure as CS, which the government had to amend. It was during the regime of Rana that a decision was taken to remove the chairman of Real Estate Regularity Authority (RERA) AP Shrivastava.

She also put her signature on the note sheet in which decision to remove Shrivastava was mentioned. Later, it came to light that RERA chairman can be removed only through a process. A judge of the high court inquires into cases against RERA chairman. On the basis of the judge’s report, RERA chairman is removed.

The government cannot remove RERA chairman only by issuing an order. The government had to take a U-turn on the decision. Shrivasava is still the chairman of RERA. During her tenure, such a person has been appointed by the cabinet as member of the MP Public Service Commission (MPPSC) as was over 62 years.

The cabinet appointed an assistant professor from Jabalpur, HS Markam as member of the MPPSC. At the time of issuing the order for appointment, when the General Administration Department (GAD) sifted through the records to confirm his age, the order was stopped. Before sending any matter to the cabinet, officials forward it to the CS.

The government made another mistake in improving the CR of special DG Kailash Makwana. Rana improved Makwana’s CR and got it approved by the Chief Minister. Principal Secretary Manish Rastogi detected the error: the rule is that a decision on improving CR is taken by a committee. So, the order for improving CR could not be issued.

A meeting of a committee was held to improve the CR. New CS Anurag Jain has to take decisions on some important issues which could not be resolved during Rana’s tenure. Chief Minister Mohan Yadav has issued directives several times this year to start the work for Simhastha. Rana held meetings with the officials for it, but a concrete decision has yet to be taken.

There are many inter-departmental issues which have to be solved. There are certain disputes between the Urban Development Department and the Public Health Engineering Department. Likewise, a few decisions of the CM are yet to be carried out. Jain has to handle all such issues.

Eye on sitting in cabinet

During the cabinet meetings, Chief Secretary used to sit near the Chief Minister. The functioning of the CS in a state is similar to that of a cabinet secretary.

But after Mohan Yadav became CM and Veera Rana CS, the seating arrangement was changed. Rana began to sit at the place where a stenographer was sitting. Now, everyone is keen to know where the new CS will sit in the cabinet.