Since then his services have been found to be "invaluable" and he is literally thriving on extensions. The orders issued by the DOP earlier this month were just another chain in the armour of extensions that Jain and other key officials in the present regime have come to occupy.
But what is so special about Jain? Is it his knowledge about militancy in Jammu and Kashmir or his reported closeness to godman Chandraswami and the Prime Minister's son Rajeshwar Rao, that pulls his chestnuts out of the fire? Says a senior official in the Prime Ministers' Office (PMO): "While Jain may or may not be competent, is there a case that there are no other officers in the Indian Police Service (IPS) who can become special secretaries for the third year running?"
Sources indicate the deep resentment amongst senior IPS officers who feel their chances have been smothered completely with the number of extensions given to Jain. The post was held until the late '80s by the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) but in the ensuing fracas with the IPS, the police officers managed to persuade the government to create a post in the Union Home Ministry, which would be designed to exclusively take care of their interests. And what better person to head it than an IPS man himself? This would be in addition to a joint secretary in the ministry exclusively in charge of police affairs. "We now feel terribly let down," admits an office bearer of the IPS Officers Association, who a year ago seriously contemplated moving a petition against Jain's second extension.
And Jain is far from being an exception. Others granted extended stays include Cabinet Secretary Surendra Singh, who would have retired last year but has been given an additional year. Well-placed sources connect the almost unprecedented extension to the highest-ranking bureaucrat to his closeness to a prominent non-resident Indian company, which now has significant business interests in the country apart from having made deep inroads inside the PMO. Then, of course, there are Singh's wide family business interests in the Uttar Pradesh hills, including a flourishing hotel chain.
But extensions are not meant to be the rule. Lawyer Abani Sahu quotes from a circular issued by the DOP in 1988 which says that extension "can be justified only in very rare and exceptional circumstances"; that the "overriding consideration for grant of extension is that it must be clearly in public interest"; ensure that other officers are not ripe enough to take over the job" and that the "retiring officer is of outstanding merit".
"As you can see, none of these categories applies in these cases. If you have to give an extension, then announce it at the beginning of the tenure," points out former cabinet secretary Vinod Pande, who says that the increasing number of extensions are demoralising the senior officers watching their chances go by. "The next man in the line may have a year to go. Now he knows that becoming cabinet secretary is but a pipe dream," explains Pande, who after his tenure under V.P. Singh, was moved out to the largely defunct Inter-State Council in 1990-91.
Another extension that has raised hackles include Secretary (Security) S. Saranyan. Saranyan, whose sole brief includes looking after the Special Protection Group (SPG) in charge of the Prime Minister's security, is already on his second extension. And, by the looks of it, another one may follow. Then there is Telecommunications Secretary R.K. Takkar who embarked on his first promotion late last year.
On their first extension are Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Director K. Vijaya Rama Rao and Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) Director A.S. Syali. In the case of the CBI, since Rao was given an extension, the next in the line, Special Director N.N. Singh, who was to have superannuated, was given a six-month extension, setting off a chain reaction within the organisation which probes all politically sensitive cases.
Unwittingly perhaps, extensions to retiring bureaucrats was not the norm during Rajiv Gandhi's tenure. He had preferred his younger Doon school pals to older, more seasoned officers. The exceptions included the then cabinet secretary S.S. Grewal and wife Sarla Grewal. During the earlier part of his tenure, even Rao stuck to this mandate. Extensions were a strict no-no until 1993. Since then the floodgates have been thrown open, to the joy of officials who have direct access to the Prime Minister on a day-to-day basis.
"There can be no denying that the Prime Minister can develop a rapport with some officials who he works with. There is an element of personal relationship that can develop," says an official with the DOP. But just how far can this argument be stretched? S.V. Giri, an Andhra Pradesh cadre IAS officer, at the time of his superannuation in 1995 was given a five-year run as central vigilance commissioner. This invited the wrath of President Shankar Dayal Sharma, who declined to sign the file moved by the Cabinet on the grounds that a judicial, and not an IAS, officer should head the body, more so since there were corruption charges against several All India Service officers. In the end, the President had to give in, but not before creating a stink.
However, if officers in "sensitive" positions have to be retained, as the Government argues, there is little explanation for granting an extension to Union Labour Secretary A.K. Gopalan. Without godfathers, an officer can be crippled. Sources say Gopalan's former minister, P.A. Sangma, now Union minister for information and broadcasting, had pulled strings to give him a fresh lease of official life.
The extension game at the Centre is leaving its mark in the states. In Orissa, for instance, the IAS Officers Association had to move two resolutions against its chief secretary R.N. Dash, who was sitting tight on three extensions before being eased out. And Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary Hari Bhasker, who has a "rapport" with Chief Minister J. Jayalalitha, is on his third extension. Her counterpart in Bihar, Laloo Prasad Yadav, has already given an extension to his Chief Secretary A.K. Basak, while at least two chief secretaries have reportedly been seen doing the rounds of the PMO in search of greener pastures.
Clearly, the extension game is here to stay. In the days of Indira Gandhi, too, there were the likes of R.N. Kao and P.N. Haksar, and earlier L.K. Jha, Dharam Vira and B.K. Nehru had extended stays in office. But key officials have never had it as good as they do today. But then the PMO, under the patronage of the evergreen A.N. Verma, is also rather different than it was in Haksar's time.
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