CONTINUED-45…
Khekiye K. Sema
PERHAPS everyone presumes that the life of a senior bureaucrat would be a bed of roses. In my case, it turned out to be more a bed of thorns minus the roses. I was being posted as the Deputy Commissioner to Wokha. No Secretary to the Government of Nagaland had thus far, ever been assigned in a similar way before me and I am glad that no Secretary has been subjected to the same humiliation thereafter. In effect, it was a demotion. I hold the exclusive distinction of becoming a Deputy Commissioner as a full-fledged Secretary to the Government of Nagaland. While I had no intention of refusing this assignment, I wrote an official letter to the Government of Nagaland to register a point that others should be spared this abnormal practice of persecution. This is the verbatim text of what I wrote to the Secretary to the Government of Nagaland, P & AR Department, with a copy to the Chief Secretary and Special Secretary to the Chief Minister for their information.
SUBJECT: Transfers/Postings-Regarding
Madam,
With reference to the above cited subject, I truly regret the necessity to have to candidly observe that, during the last 23 years and 11months of my service rendered to the Government of Nagaland, there has been less occasion of fair play and even lesser regard for human consideration shown to me by the Government vis-a-vis my transfers and postings.
I joined the service in August 1974. Since then, I have been transferred 20 times already. The latest order of transfer to Wokha as Deputy Commissioner stands to be my 21st. Throughout these past driven years as a beast of burden, I have always maintained a studied silence, taking my assignments with as much dignity and submission as may be expected of a Government servant. The sever and more than consistent disruption of my family life and the welfare of my school going children, have been borne without a protest, at their cost. However, the time has come to take a principled stand, if for nothing else, at least for the sake of record, to state that the boundary of normal decency has long been crossed by the Government in its dealing with my career.
The Government would predictably consider all its past actions as warranted, justified and above board. Without disputing this issue, may I be permitted to list the total number of stations that I have covered over the years. Perhaps the record will speak for itself:
1. Appointed as EAC and attached to the ATI Kohima for……6 months; Thereafter posted as:
2. EAC/ Mokokchung HQ for…………………………………………3 months;
3. EAC/BDO Wakching for…………………………………………… 9 months (approx);
4. EAC/ Naginimora…………………………………………. 2years 2 months;
5. EAC/Dimapur……………………………………………………..3 months;
6. SDO (C)/ Aghunato……………………………………….. 1 year 1 month;
7. US/ Supply…………………………………………………… 6 months;
8. SDO (Boarder)/ Merapani…………………………….. 7 months (approx);
9. US/ Rural Development………………………………… 3years;
10. ADC/ Kiphire……………………………………………………3 years 6 months;
11. ADC/ Kohima …………………………………………………. 10 months (approx);
12. DS/ Power……………………………………………………. 6 months;
13. DRC/ Nagaland House/ New Delhi…………………….. 1 year 1 month;
14. Joint Secretary/ H & FW………………………………….. 6 months;
15. Joint Secretary/ Planning…………………………….. 3 months;
16. Director/ Supply………………………………………….. 3 months;
17. JS/ PWD ………………………………………………………. 1 year 9 months (approx);
18. Js/ Housing (after bifurcation)…………………….. 7 months;
19. JS/ Addl. Secretary TPT……………………………………. 2 years 10 months;
20. Addl. Secretary/ Secretary (Tourism)…………… ………….2 years 11 months;
21. Now being transferred as DC/ Wokha.
Somehow, I cannot convince myself that the above record depicts a picture of a Government going about its business in a normal way. It is of interest to note that in all the above mentioned transfers, the matter of conventional tenure was conveniently overlooked.
Notwithstanding what has been stated so far, I would like to affirm that I am NOT voicing any objection for being transferred. Not in the least. The subject has more to do with the general mismanagement of hierarchical status within the bureaucracy, whereby a full fledged Secretary to the Government is being posted to a lower unequal position as a Deputy Commissioner. I understand this action has been initiated on the premises that all IAS officers must compulsorily do a District as a matter of Rule. Correct me if I am wrong, but in my insufficient knowledge, I had made an effort to locate this mandatory clause in the All India Service Manual, to ascertain the factual position for myself. However, such specific Rule does not exist. The conclusion derived from this exercise gives me the impression that the above held contention is purely a matter of convention and not the Rule. In this regard, informed sources gave me to understand that, among some others, one Shri. K. Padmanabhaiah IAS, who reached the level of a Home Secretary in the Central Ministry, had never taken a District assignment in his entire career. This however did not seem to have stood in his way as an impediment for attaining the status that he did before his final retirement. This should perhaps elucidate the distinction between the usage of Rules and Convention. It is an irony to note that convention was spurned in the first instance of all the transfers referred to above on the one hand, while on the other, convention is being strictly enforced for demotion….both for the end purpose of prosecution. Keeping the above example in mind, it is for the Govt. to also consider the propriety of strictly enforcing convention as a rule.
May I further add that, as Joint Secretary and as Additional Secretary, I had neither refused nor objected to my being posted as a Deputy Commissioner. However, for reasons best known to the Government, I was never given this opportunity at that stage. This is the fact. The fault is certainly not mine. It is beyond my comprehension therefore to understand why Khekiye K. Sema son of Late Khelhoshe Sema is so frequently handpicked from the bureaucratic basket for an exclusive guinea-pig mistreatment for one excuse or the other. Even without having to demean one’s position with complaints, one would have thought that a normal Govt. would justly uphold the legal and moral obligation for its servants by allowing each, a modicum of human consideration and a fair deal. This is perhaps too much for the asking, but I do feel let down.
Nevertheless, in the interest of affording a rational balance, I do deem it pertinent to further reflect that: 1. Of the 23 years 11 months of service rendered so far, more than 50% of that time has been spent in the field. While the legitimacy of the Deputy Commissioner being the head of the District is not being disputed in any way, the 3 1/2 years spent as an independent Additional Deputy Commissioner at Kiphire, with an equivalent Magisterial/ Judicial powers as that of the Deputy Commissioner, must surely account for something that would satisfy this all important convention. If field qualification is a criteria of assessment for any eventuality, I do believe that I have measured up to more than my share of time in the field, with basic minimum experience acquired at a reasonable level of responsibility, to be able to confidently stand my ground wherever asked.
2. If the Government feels that the situation is critical enough to warrant a District to be manned by a Secretary level officer, it would have been more forthright and in the fitness of things to first consider (a) selecting a Secretary junior to the undersigned or in all fairness (b) empanel all Secretaries who also have not done a District, as this is an abnormal proposition.
3. Whatever be the views of the Government, this fact cannot be denied that a Deputy Commissioner in its present standing, is not equal in rank to that of a Secretary to the Government. Necessarily therefore, the designation of the Deputy Commissioner must suitably be upgraded through an official notification, commensurate to the status of a Secretary. Without doing so, it would be logical to conclude that the primary objective of the whole exercise is to single out an officer for a demotion, under the guise of convention.
In the light of the above, it would be in the greater interest of all concerned, that the Government re-examine its decision with moderated sensitivity, so that other officers may be spared this needless humiliation and that I may also be given an even break to perform my duties in a clearer frame of mind. May it be known that this issue is being raised on a matter of propriety within the bureaucracy and as a matter of principle, so that the considered view of the Government will have a standard bearing on all future cases of the similar order.
Yours faithfully,
KHEKIYE K. SEMA IAS
Secretary to the Government of Nagaland
Department of Tourism, Kohima, Nagaland.
