Another Gujarat official gets key role at NHRC

Rajesh Kishore named secretary-general at NHRC

The Narendra Modi government has made yet another appointment of a Gujarat cadre official, this time at the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). Rajesh Kishore, a 1980-batch IAS officer, has been named secretary-general at NHRC in the rank and pay of secretary, according to the ministry of personnel and training. Also, in a separate announcement, DoPT (Department of Personnel and Training) has said the PM had turned down the rural development department’s choice of a private secretary.

In the case of NHRC, its association with Gujarat is not new. The Commission was critical of the inadequate response from the Gujarat government, led by Modi after the 2002 riots. The report had pointed out that the Gujarat government had failed to protect human rights at the time of the riots and that it was later unable to provide justice to those whose rights were violated. The Gujarat government reportedly tabled the NHRC report at the Assembly about 10 years after the Godhra incident.

Kishore was earlier in the State Disaster Management Authority in Gujarat as its CEO from 2005 to 2009. He’s coming to NHRC from the post of principal secretary in health and family welfare ministry in Gujarat. Retired Supreme Court Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan is the chairman of NHRC.

There has been a rush of Gujarat cadre appointments in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) too ever since Modi has become PM. For instance, Gujarat cadre IAS Rajeev Topno has been made the private secretary to Modi. Another Gujarat cadre officer P K Mishra is the additional principal secretary to the PM. Both Topno and Mishra, like Kishore, have in the past done stints at Gujarat’s Disaster Management Authority.

Among the officials with key roles in the PMO under Modi is Bharat Lal, Gujarat resident commissioner in Delhi. A K Sharma, Hiren Joshi and Sanjay Bhavsar are some other officials from Gujarat who are now in the PMO. The PM has also brought in Jagdish Thakker as a press relations officer in his office.

In another striking office memo issued on Friday, DoPT said “the prime minister has not approved” the proposal of the department of rural development for appointment of Ravinder Kumar, a Sikkim cadre IAS of 2011 batch, as private secretary to Rural Development Minister Upendra Kushwaha. Kumar had made news last year for scaling the Mount Everest.

Even as appointment of private secretaries to ministers hardly ever went to the PMO, now Modi himself vets many such appointments. Several appointments as private secretaries to ministers were put on hold by the Modi government recently, especially when these private secretaries had worked with UPA ministers.

THE GUJARAT LINK IN PMO

• P K Mishra: Additional principal secretary to the PM
• Rajeev Topno: Private secretary to the PM
• Bharat Lal: Role not specified, close aide of Modi
• Arvind Kumar Sharma: Joint secretary
• Hiren Joshi: IT & communication expert
• Sanjay Bhavser: Role not specified, may be named OSD
• Jagdish Thakker: PRO