Deputy chief ministers Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar were upset when they were declined permission to address the gathering at the state event at Chaityabhoomi on the occasion of Dr B R Ambedkar's 135th birth anniversary, on April 14. Only chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and governor C P Radhakrishnan were called upon to speak on the contributions of the architect of the Indian Constitution. After the CM and governor's speeches, Shinde and Pawar left the venue.
A high-ranking official in the CMO said both Pawar and Shinde were informed that owing to shortage of time, they would not be able to address the gathering. Pawar did not take the incident lightly. During a media interaction, he said that he and Shinde have decided to speak for at least two minutes in such events in the future. It will be in consultation with the CM, so that there is no confusion and there is no scope for the media to create news, he added.
In his earlier tenure as deputy CM from 2009 to 2014, Pawar rarely attended events with the governor and other dignitaries, though his name was on the invitation card. Then his contention was that most of the events were held in Mumbai, while he was concentrating on the departmental work in Pune and Baramati so he could skip them. Also, these events are usually attended by the chief minister, he pointed out then.
Senior bureaucrats said it is high time that protocol norms are changed for public events as names of all legislators and MPs are printed on the invites, but most of them do not attend. However, if their names do not appear on the invite, they lodge a strong protest. On occasions, stern action has also been taken on erring officers.
Reinstatement of ‘tainted' officials raise brows
Eyebrows have been raised over the quiet reinstatement of two senior officials of the food and civil supplies department, who were suspended after they were trapped by Anti-Corruption Bureau officials while allegedly accepting bribes.
Since they were in police custody for more than 48 hours, they were suspended by deeming provisions of the Maharashtra Civil Service Rules. As per the rules, the two tainted officials approached the divisional commissioner for reinstatement on the ground that sufficient period has passed since their suspension and they could be reinstated now. Their cases were then referred to the departmental review committee, which recommended that since the departmental probe was not completed within the stipulated period, they should be reinstated as early as possible.
Pointing out that errant officials are often reinstated owing to incomplete departmental probes, a former ACB official urged the home department to fix a timeframe for such investigations.