NEW DELHI, AUG 22: The penchant for foreign assignments displayed by personal secretaries of Union Ministers has forced Prime Minister I K Gujral to issue a blanket order that no personal secretary will be considered for foreign postings.Sources in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said that the order will soon be directed to the Ministry of Personnel, which in turn will issue a circular to curb the increasing craze for foreign jobs particularly at the United Nations and the World Bank.Gujral was reportedly alarmed by the rate at which applications from personal secretaries for foreign jobs were pouring in. They were also tagged with recommendations from political VVIPs, which made Gujral's job all the more difficult, the sources said.At present, eight personal secretaries, including those of the Union Personnel Minister and the Union Finance Minister, are said to be vying for two plum assignments in Washington. Over 70 per cent of such assignments in the past have gone to personal secretaries. The monthly salaries for such assignments range between Rs 1 lakh and Rs 2 lakh.A senior official in the PMO said: ``It pays more than one way to be a personal secretary of the Union Ministers. When in power, he is the centre of Government activities. And just when the Minister senses that his term is coming to an end, he ensures a plum assignment abroad for his secretary as a reward for his loyalty.''Ramu Damodaran, personal secretary of former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao got a posting in the World Bank immediately after the tenth Lok Sabha came to an end. The personal secretary to former Finance Minister Manmohan Singh, Rahul Khullar, is also in the United Nations.However, the establishment officials in the Ministry of Personnel say that Damodaran had been with the World Bank, when he was called back by the PMO. ``What is wrong when he was repatriated with the World Bank on the latter's request,'' the officials argued.In 1993, the Ministry of Personnel invited the names of IAS officers who were interested in foreign postings. Of the 75 officers in the panel, only five could get foreign postings. The panel is revised after three years and the 100-odd IAS officials enrolled in the 1996 list are yet to get a chance to be nominated for foreign assignments.The bureaucrats who were rewarded with foreign assignments include K P Krishnan, PS to former Minister of State for Personnel Margaret Alva, N K Jain, PS to former Finance Minister Manmohan Singh, N N Prasad, son-in-law of Principal Secretary to former prime minister, A N Verma and Rattan Wattal, former PS to Prime Minister. Krishnan was placed in the World Bank, while Jain was posted in Asian Development Bank.According to Government instructions, selection procedures would be adopted for identifying the best and most suitable candidates for nomination by a Foreign Assignment Selection Committee. When a nodal Ministry receives a vacancy notice, it should circulate the same to all the relevant departments and the Government agencies.But this seldom happens. ``The circular for the foreign assignments reach us only after the date for applications is expired,'' said a senior IAS official.
