Power struggle: Unnerved by two lines of command, at least two senior officers have opted to move out of the Union Territory of Puducherry. | Photo Credit: S_S_KUMAR more-in The morale of the bureaucracy has taken a heavy beating after getting dragged into the tug-of-war between Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi and Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy, forcing some of them to opt out of their assigned roles while some others are reluctant to hold charge of a few crucial departments. Senior officers, from Director to Secretary level, who are in direct line of communication with the Lt. Governor, the Chief Minister and Ministers are increasingly finding it difficult to manage the administrative set up with orders coming from different directions. At least two IAS officers have opted for means to leave the Puducherry administration. Arun L. Desai, after serving six months in Puducherry administration, has taken voluntary retirement. He was handling the crucial port department, which has seen Lt. Governor and the elected government coming into direct confrontation on dredging work. The other IAS officer, M.R.M. Rao, who was handling fisheries department, has left on deputation to Telangana while another officer, Mukesh Prasad, got a stay order on his posting here, sources in the Secretariat said. Reluctant to lead G. Narendra Kumar, against whom the Central Bureau of Investigation has registered a case in alleged medical admission irregularity, has given in writing to the Chief Secretary his reluctance to hold the charge of health and education departments. In his letter, Mr. Kumar had expressed his regret for not seeking to be relieved of the charge of the two departments earlier so that his name would not have figured in the case. He said he had been “wrongly named in the FIR for the unassigned role as ex-officio chairman of the Centralised Admission Committee while holds charge as Education Secretary for four months. The registration of the case and subsequent “misinformation campaign had dented his record of honesty and excellence in public service for 28 years,” the officer said in his letter to the Chief Secretary. Sources in the Secretariat told The Hindu that the IAS and PCS (Pondicherry Civil Services) officers are increasingly feeling “insecure” in the present scheme of things. “We don’t know whom to listen to. We don’t know whether to take orders from those who have been elected to power or from the constitutional head. Things have not come to such a pass before. And, officers getting abused in public is a first here,” said a senior PCS officer. A senior official said that even in the case of dengue, where life is at stake, directions come from both the Chief Minister and the Lt. Governor. “One makes a visit to the hospital, issues a direction and the other follows and gives another order. We are getting caught in the political slugfest,” he said. Chief Secretary Manoj Parida said the officers were unnecessarily being dragged into the fight for supremacy. “The rules are very clear. But when one oversteps, everything is bound to happen like this. I have clear instructions from MHA and I am bound by those orders only,” he said.

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