Soren ignored Governor,ordered transfers,postings

*May 14: Sixteen Jharkhand Administrative Service officers transferred.

*May 18: Twenty-five medical officers transferred,113 Sub-Inspectors promoted and transferred.

*May 19: Three IAS officers given additional charge.

*May 20: Thirteen DSPs transferred.

All this,despite Governor M O H Farook having asked the Soren government not to do so.

Sources say Farook had summoned Chief Secretary Ashok Kumar Singh on May 12 and asked him not to effect large-scale transfers and postings. The Governors logic seemed to have been guided by two factors: One,the ruling BJP-JMM ties were in a flux ever since Soren went along with the UPA while voting on the Opposition-sponsored cut motion in the Lok Sabha on April 27,and the BJP had threatened to pull out of the government. Secondly,time was running out for Soren,an MP,to earn constitutional mandate as the CM. Under the law,he was supposed to become an MLA within six months of his taking oath as the CM. Soren was sworn in as CM on December 30,and his six-month deadline ends on June 30.

Farook is learnt to have apprised Singh of his concerns. In turn,Singh conveyed the Governors point of view to the CMs Principal Secretary Sukhdeo Singh on May 13,say sources.

However,Soren,who is in charge of the Personnel and the Home Departments that had notified these transfers,went ahead with his plans.

The CM thinks his is an elected government. In the absence of any ally withdrawing support to it,he had the right to discharge day-to-day administrative functions, said an IAS officer,requesting anonymity. Even the CMs Principal Secretary and Chief Secretary hold an identical opinion,though they preferred not to go on record on the issue.

This defence notwithstanding,the allies are crying foul. Apart from defying the Governors directive,Soren has demoralised bureaucracy. We demand that all these transfers and postings be cancelled, said the BJPs ex-MLA Sarayu Rai.

Legal experts have termed the CMs latest move illegal. Since he is not contesting any bypoll to get elected as an MLA before his six-month term ends on June 30,Soren lacks constitutional propriety to stay in power and effect mass transfers. This is thoroughly illegal. We demand a judicial inquiry into this so that this does not become a precedent, said Sudhir Kumar,a Jharkhand High Court lawyer.

The officers bearing the brunt of transfers are not happy either. To whom should I narrate my grievances? asked a DSP,who has been transferred twice in the past four months. First,he was posted at Chatra on February 6 and then he was transferred to Palamau on May 20. First,I obtained the transfer certificate of my two children and got them admitted to a school at Chatra. Now,I have to get their admission at Palamau.