The finance ministry is likely to see a rejig in the senior bureaucracy soon even as the UPA government is on its last leg and elections are around the corner.
RS Gujral, who retired as finance secretary, is likely be made a member of the 7th pay commission while revenue secretary Sumit Bose is in the race for the top post of the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA), according to official sources.
After Gujral’s retirement last week, Bose, the senior-most among the secretaries in the finance ministry, is tipped to be the finance secretary (FS).
But he is learnt to have applied for the post of PFRDA chairman, lying vacant after the resignation of Yogesh Agarwal on November 13. If Bose becomes the pension regulator, then economic affairs secretary Arvind Mayaram would be the finance secretary, sources said.
The position of finance secretary usually goes to the senior-most among the bureaucrats heading the five departments in the finance ministry, namely revenue, expenditure, economic affairs, disinvestment and financial services.
If Bose is appointed as PFRDA chief then the announcement will most likely be in January as December 27 is the last date for application for the post.
Financial services Secretary Rajiv Takru said in November that PFRDA chairman would be appointed by January end. Gujral joined the IAS in 1976 and was secretary in the road transport ministry and chairman of the NHAI while Bose, a 1976-batch IAS officer from the Madhya Pradesh cadre, has served as disinvestment secretary, secretary in the 13th Finance Commission and principal secretary, finance, in Madhya Pradesh. Bose, who replaced Gujral as revenue secretary last year after P Chidambaram took office, would be retiring in March 2014.
After Bose, Mayaram is the senior-most among the five secretaries in the North Block, and is ideally expected to take over as finance secretary in April. However, if Bose heads for the PFRDA, then Mayaram could be finance secretary as early as January.
Since Chidambaram came back to head the finance ministry in August 2012, Mayaram has become one of his most prominent aides, and along with RBI governor Raghuram Rajan, has been a visible face to foreign investors, drumming up investment prospects for India in various events around the world.
The government has invited applications for the PFRDA chairman’s position since the last chairman of the pension regulator, Yogesh Agarwal, resigned in November – one and a half years before the end of his term ? as the government had issues with his style of functioning.
The government announced the 7th pay commission in September last year but is yet to announce the members and its chairman, who will take a decision on the prospect of salary increases for nearly 80 lakh employees and pensioners.