Chief Secretary E K Bharat Bhushan to meet IAS association, resolve issues of officers

Thiruvananthapuram: From individual petitions to service matters all issues are likely to come up for discussion at the meeting called by Chief Secretary E K Bharat Bhushan with IAS Officers' Association here on Tuesday.

This is for the first time since the row began between the chief secretary and the association that the top bureaucrat has conceded to hold one-on-one discussion. The association office bearers are slated to meet him on Tuesday afternoon.

The association will discuss delegation of powers for Personal Appraisal Report (PAR) of secretary level officers to minister concerned of departments. As of now it is being done by Chief Secretary. Service matters including pending promotions will also be taken up at the meet.

There have been complaints from individual officers about the alleged vindictive attitude of the chief secretary and his ‘rude' behaviour with colleagues. Most issues concerning bureaucrats had earlier been discussed with Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and he had even announced in the floor of the House that Planning Board vice chairman K M Chandrashekhar would mediate. But that didn’t work out owing to various issues.

Later Additional Chief Secretary V Somasudaran was asked to look into grievances of the officers. But with he too now going to Centre as Union Civil Aviation Secretary, the issues pertaining to IAS offices hit a road block again. It is in this backdrop that the chief secretary's invitation to association for talks gain significance.