Friday, April 11, 2014

Transfers & Postings Industry

Corruption in postings and transfers in Mumbai Customs - Writ Petition in High Court

TIOL-DDT 2332
11.04.2014
Friday

TRANSFERS and postings in the Revenue Departments is a multi Crore industry. Once the Board refused to part with some information on transfers taking shelter under section 8(1)(d) of the RTI according to which information including commercial confidence, trade secrets or intellectual property, the disclosure of which would harm the competitive position of a third party, unless the competent authority is satisfied that larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information, need not be furnished. Maybe this is a tacit admission that transfer is a commercial activity.

THIS commercial activity starts right at the top and it is said that the amounts run into Crores. Now when a senior officer buys a post, he has to reap rich returns for his investment. He can sell posts in his jurisdiction. Now a days it is not even done discreetly - people talk openly about how much they paid for a post.

Now, a complaint on corruption in transfer and posting of employees in the Office of the Commissioner of Customs, Mumbai, has reached the Delhi High Court.The petitioner is aggrieved against his transfer from Airpool to Rummaging and Intelligence (R and I). He had complained to the Finance Secretary who in turn had asked a Joint Secretary to investigate.

The High Court has directed the Joint secretary to place a copy of the report on record upon conclusion of the inquiry. The High Court expected that the inquiry will be completed expeditiously, though not later than three months. A copy of the report of the inquiry will also be furnished to the petitioner.
Please see 2014-TIOL-470-HC-DEL-MISC

No comments: