Maya govt winds up star-studded council

CM to decide transfers of only senior officials.

The Uttar Pradesh government today scrapped the UP Development Council with immediate effect. The decision was taken at the first meeting of the new cabinet led by Mayawati.

To give final shape to the decision, the cabinet decided to introduce a Bill in the coming session of the Assembly to repeal the UP Development Council Act, 2003, under which the council was set up.

The mandate of the council, set up by the then chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, was attracting investment to the state. The council was headed by the high-profile Samajwadi Party General Secretary Amar Singh, who resigned after the results of the Assembly elections were announced on May 11.

Citing the reason for abolishing the council, a government spokesman said, "This body was only promoting crony capitalism and was created with to benefit a particular business house and a few other industrialists close to the top leaders of the previous regime."

"The government is formulating a transparent and accountable institutional mechanism in the state for promoting industrial infrastructure. All possible assistance will be provided to all industrial houses according to their needs," the spokesman added.

The council, known as the "Amar Singh club," was packed with his friends in Bollywood and the corporate world.

The council's brand ambassador was Amitabh Bachchan, who featured in the controversial advertisement, "UP mein dum hai, jurm yahan per kum hai."

It included top names of the Indian corporate world, including ADAG Chairman Anil Ambani, Kumarmanglam Birla of the Aditya Birla group, Infosys' Nandan Nilekani, the then CEO of Hindustan Lever MS Banga, KV Kamath of ICICI Bank, and Subrato Rai Sahara of the Sahara group.

The former Samajwadi government had claimed that it had adopted several policies formulated by the council for attracting investment to the state.

The foremost among them were policies for the sugar and energy sectors and an excise policy for promoting investment in the distillery sector.

According to PTI, the cabinet also decided that the newly elected members of the Vidhan Sabha would elect the Speaker on May 18, a day after they are administered oath, Cabinet Secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh told reporters here. The first session of the Assembly is scheduled for May 21.

The cabinet also approved the appointment of Jyotindra Mishra as the new advocate-general.

The cabinet secretary said the government also decided to make only necessary transfers of officers this year as the transfer industry was the root cause of corruption.

He said in future, the chief minister would transfer only the officers of principal secretary/additional director general (of police) level. Other transfers, he added, would be done by the respective service boards.

The proposal of transfers would be prepared by the service boards and approved by the cabinet secretary so that the chief minister could concentrate on other more important issues, he said.

The state cabinet also decided to scrap appointments during Yadav's regime, including that of chairmen/vice-chairmen of various corporations, he said.