16 names of PSs and OSDs rejected by Fadnavis for being ‘fixers’; 35 still under scrutiny

MUMBAI: There are several reasons why chief minister Devendra Fadnavis took the unprecedented decision of turning down 16 recommendations of ministers for the post of their personal secretaries (PSs) and officers on special duty (OSDs). The people in question were rejected for a host of corrupt activities, from working as conduits for middlemen to taking a cut from contractors and builders to demanding a commission for promotions or recruitment either for themselves or on behalf of the ministers.

The 16 names have been rejected by the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO), based on scrutiny by various sources, the candidates’ confidential reports, track records and complaints received about them. Over 28 names with dubious records are reportedly still under scrutiny. The opposition Shiv Sena (UBT) on Tuesday supported Fadnavis in his clean-up drive and demanded that the names of the 16 officers and the ministers seeking their appointment be made public in the interest of the state.

Fadnavis, after taking over as leader of Mahayuti 2.0, decided to clean up the ‘commission culture’ right from the offices of ministers. Officials said that based on the experiences during the first Mahayuti government, he had directed that all his ministers’ PSs and OSDs be appointed only after scrutiny by the CMO.

“The pending scrutiny for the 28-plus proposed names is for those with mixed track records,” said a CMO official. “Most of the rejected names are from the previous government, while some of them have been around for years, even in the Congress-NCP regimes.” The official said that those rejected were in equal numbers from the Shiv Sena and NCP while the BJP ministers had appointed the officers given by the CMO.

In addition to the commission culture, some of the rejected persons were found to have inflated work estimates to mint money and allotted the contract without following due process. Some were not officially appointed, despite which they were operating on behalf of the ministers, said a senior official.

As per the rules, a minister’s office is allowed a staff of over 35 personnel, consisting of one PS and up to three OSDs. The PS has to be a government officer, while an outsider can be appointed as OSD with the permission of the general administration department headed by the CM. An OSD has limited powers as compared to a PS, but in the past two decades, OSDs have become a keyword in Mantralaya.

For a minister, PSs and OSDs are important to run their department. The PS’s job is to ensure the implementation of decisions taken by the minister, coordinate with the secretaries handling the minister’s departments and handle routine work. OSDs, in theory, are meant to work as consultants for the ministers and to give inputs for policy decisions. Several OSDs are also tasked with ensuring that the political policies of the minister or his party are implemented. In reality, several PSs and OSDs end up working as one unit with the minister in dubious deals as well, said Mantralaya officials.

When asked what made the CMO take up the clean-up drive, a senior BJP leader pointed to the plethora of malpractices in the previous government. “In some cases, the commission collected by PSs and OSDs went up to 25%, with 5% remaining with the officers and the rest going to the ministers,” he said. “A former health minister had promoted officers and employees, ignoring the seniority factor for obvious reasons. The restriction on entry into Mantralaya was also part of the clean-up drive.”

Fadnavis, firm on effecting a clean-up from Day 1, has appointed 75% fresh faces in the ministerial offices. “The OSDs and PSs are the backbone of the ministerial set-up and, in turn, have a direct relation with how the government is perceived,” the officer quoted above said. “The new officers were recently given training at the Maharashtra State Faculty Development Academy in Pune.”

After Fadnavis spoke about the ‘fixers’ in ministers’ offices, there was an immediate reaction in political corridors. “We have differences with Fadnavis but we congratulate him for rejecting the appointment of 16 PSs and OSDs,” said Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut. Raut alleged that 13 of the 16 rejects were recommended by ministers of the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena while three were from NCP ministers.

NCP MLC Amol Mitkari too levelled allegations against an OSD of a former Sena minister, saying he had experienced this himself in the previous government. “The OSD demanded ₹5 lakh to approve the ₹50-crore work related to his department,” he said. “I refused because I didn’t have money and I didn’t want work by giving a commission.”