Ms Poonam Dutt is likely to succeed Sudha Sharma as DG (Vigilance), Income-Tax in Delhi.1978 batch IRS officer Ms Dutt is presently CCIT in Bareilly.

Amit Dasgupta is being tipped to be new Indian Ambassador to Phillippins. He is 1979 batch IFS officer.

Ms. Vijayanta Additional SP (Under Trg.) is likely to go on inter-cadre transfer from Tamil Nadu to UP Cadre. She is an IPS officer of 2009 batch who belongs to Tamil Nadu Cadre.

Anand Prakash IGP (AP) Manipur has been appointed as IG, BPR&D. He is an IPS officer of 1986 batch who belongs to the Manipur Tripura cadre.

A panel of Joint Secretary, Minority Affairs has been approved by the CSB. It consists of J P Meena - 1983 batch IAS officer of Assam-Meghalaya cadre, Ravinder Kumar Singh 1983 batch IFS officer of Chhattisgarh and Ranjan Kumar IES officer of 1993 batch.

Joint Secretary and FA in the Ministry of Water Resources Ananya Ray is returning to the parent IRS (C&CE) cadre after completion of central deputation tenure next month.

Kapil Sibal has reportedly stalled the appointment of DDG Vigilance in the department of Posts. He is insisting that the officer should be from outside the department. The postal service officers are miffed. Sibal wants to take interview and will select officer with impeccable integrity but where will he find such an officer.

V Arun Roy Collector, Ramanathapuram, has been appointed Deputy Secretary to government (Budget). K Nanthakumar will be new Collector, Ramanathapuram.

Andhra Pradesh IAS officers are now up in arms. At an emergency meeting of the Association, they have made it clear that ministers and politicians should be held responsible for 'policy decisions' taken by the government. They also want that entire cabinet should also be held accountable for policy decisions.

Many names are making rounds for the post of BMC Chief but Prithviraj Chavan wants a man who is going to make sure that the newly announced Dharavi redevelopment and Slum Rehabilitation projects taking off. The names of T.C Benjamin (IAS: 1979) and Gautam Chaterjee (IAS: 1982) are much in the reckoning as both have worked on Dharavi re-development and Slum Rehabilitation.

A K Gupta, IAS (1979), shall revert back to his parent cadre Uttar Pradesh on Feb 29, 2012. He is working as CVO in Kribhco which is on way to be privatised. Since the Government equity has now come down to 24 percent, he has sought repatriation. Orders of DoPT have been issued.

Abhay Bakre who is currently Joint Development Commissioner, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) is poised to be Executive Director(ED), Petroleum Conservation Research Association (PCRA). He an IRSEE officer of 1988 batch.

P T S Kumar, presently PMG, Shillong, has been posted on promotion as Chief PMG, North East Circle. He is 1981 batch IPoS officer.

Ms. Archana S. Katyar, Director, Planning Commission has been given three months extension of central deputation tenure. She is an IFS Officer of 1986 batch who belongs to UP Cadre.

M R M Rao, Additional Secretary, PWD, NCT, Government of Delhi has been transferred as Additional Registrar of Co-operative Societies. He is a DANICS Cadre Officer.

Narayanaswamy is on the verge of leaving IAS to go to Paris to take up a well paid United Nations assignment.

Three 1987 batch IAS officers N K Sundaray, Rajesh Verma and R K Sharma have been promoted to the rank of Principal Secretary in Orissa.

1983 batch IAS officer Taradatt is back to the parent Orissa cadre from central deputation. On return he has been appointed Principal Secretary, Revenue.

N K Sundaray will be Principal Secretary, MSME and Public Relations. Rajesh Verma has been made Principal Secretary, School Education. R K Sharma will be Principal Secretary, Forests and Excise. Aparajita Sarangi has been appointed Secretary, Higher Education. Chandra Sekhar Kumar has been posted as Secretary, Technical Education.

The post of General Manager (Bihar) has been advertised lying vacant in Food Corporation of India (FCI), Patna, under the Department of Food & Public Distribution. Those willing to apply may send their applications to Department of Personnel & Training before February 13, 2012.

"Adjourned for Feb 13 for framing of charges, PM needs to be present in court"

A seven judge bench of the Pakistan supreme court on Thursday decided to proceed further in the contempt case against Prime Minister Y R Gilani for his failure to write a letter to the Swiss authorities to reopen cases of illegal bank accounts of President Zardari as directed by the Apex Court in December 2009 in the 'NRO case'. The court didn't accept the plea taken by PM's counsel Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan that the court directive was 'unimplementable' in view of the immunity enjoyed by the President under the constitution and the Swiss authorities had already closed the case after Zardari assumed office of the President because Heads of States enjoy immunity from such proceedings even under the Swiss law. The bench has ordered personal presence of the PM on February 13 when charges will be framed against him. The verdict shall have far reaching political implications as the PM's conviction may result in a jail term and fine apart from disqualification from holding any public office.

On a petition filed by an advocate Noshab A Khan challenging the provincial Chief Minister holding charge of 18 departments with himself, the Court has sought reply from the Chief Secretary within three weeks. The petitioner has argued that under the Punjab government rules of business 1974, the CM is expected to coordinate policy matters and chair cabinet meetings but not hold charge of any department himself. Besides by retaining so many departments with him, the CM can't deliver to the full satisfaction of the citizens and the administration suffers. The recent example of over 100 deaths due to consumption of spurious cardiac drugs in Lahore has been quoted in the petition with reference to the fact that the health department is one of the 18 portfolios held by the CM.

Fed up with 'interference by different stake holders', the Additional IG of Karachi Akhtar Hassan Gorchani has ordered a blanket ban on postings and transfers of SHOs and DSPs 'till further orders'. The notification was issued after Gorchani met the provincial Home Minister Manzoor Wassan to complain about the interference and the latter advised him to ignore all such illegal requests.

The US Counsel General in Karachi William Martin handed over 1000 bullet proof vests and 1000 helmets to the IGP Sindh Mushtaq Shah for use by the Karachi policemen as part of a US sponsored police assistance programme. The equipments are valued at US$750000. 'US and Pakistan want one and the same thing', the counsel general said, 'safety, order and a better life for all citizens'.

The British medicines and healthcare products regulatory authority (MHRA) and the school of pharmacy London have after a joint study of samples and patients' reports identified the contaminated drug given by the Pakistan Institute of Cardiology (PIC) to its patients that resulted in death of more than 100 patients. These patients were advised Tab Isotab (generic name Isosorbide 5-mononitrate) 20 mg twice daily and each of the 20 mg tablet has been found to be containing 50mg of pyrimethamine an anti malaria drug which if taken in excess of 25 mg a week can result in bone morrow suppression and severe depletion of platelets as well as WBC counts in the blood leading to death. These precisely are the symptoms displayed by the patients who lost their lives after consuming Isotab given to them by the PIC.

Doctors and other health workers in Pakistan are in a wholly unenviable position. After the young doctors' protest for better pay scales and conditions of service the government had issued the Career Structure for Health Personnel (CSHP) ordinance on 27 August 2011. It provided for a special 13 tier scales delinking them from the common 22 scales applicable to other government servants. While existing employees had the option of the new system or continuing with the old but the new entrants recruited post the ordinance were compulsorily to be tied down to it. Because of superior scales almost all the old employees opted for the new system laid down in the ordinance. As the ordinance hasn't been made in to an act it has lapsed on 26 December 2011 and as per the law department no benefit including drawl of pay and allowances can accrue from a lapsed ordinance.

During the course of hearing a petition filed by a distraught mother of two school boys alleging their kidnapping by the 'intelligence agencies', Chief Justice Dost Mohammad Khan warned the counsel from the JAG branch and an officer appearing on behalf of the IG Frontier Corps (FC) that if they dilly dallied on the court's directive to produce the detained children the court will be compelled to order registration of criminal cases against the chiefs of the concerned intelligence agencies. The warning came after a major appearing on behalf of the IG FC denied that the children were in their custody. The statement CJ observed was contrary to evidence including sworn statement of the head master of the school from where the kids were picked up by the intelligence agencies.

Islamabad police has disclosed that last about 20 days back a parcel containing anthrax was sent to the official residence of Prime Minister Gilani. The parcel originated from Jamsero in Sindh province where police teams have been despatched to apprehend the culprit. This is the first time anthrax has been sent to a government functionary as high as the PM.

Pakistan's archaeology department has drawn up plans for restoration of four historical gates of Lahore. These are the Shernwala, Bhati, Kashmiri and Lohari Gates and the restoration will include structural consolidation and preservation of the old frescos of floral and geometrical designs originally painted on the gates. The project is to cost nearly 14 million rupees.

The NMDC has added yet another feather in its cap with cherishing dream of having a foot-hold in International markets. It has been fulfilled by the acquisition of Legacy Iron Ore, Australia during December 2011. NMDC has recently completed the acquisition of 50% equity in Legacy Iron Ore Limited and also inducted three Directors in Legacy board with N K Nanda being appointed as Chairman. Legacy will serve as a platform to propel acquisition and development of mineral assets in Australia. This is endowed with an asset having more than 1 billion tonne of magnetite resource. As this is the first acquisition of NMDC ourselves the immediate need is to take control of the company and lead the company to a smooth transition of the control and operation and it needs immediate attention for settling the issues raised out of the takeover. NMDC is actively pursuing the acquisition of overseas strategic mineral assets with the objective of meeting its own requirements and also towards raw material security for the country's steel and fertilizer industries.

B P Rao, CMD, BHEL

Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), which is one of the profit making Nav Ratna public sector companies, has stuck yet another feather in its cap by commissioning of India's first 1200 kV Ultra High Voltage Alternating Current (UHVAC) Transformer of 333 MVA rating. The country's first 1200 kV transmission line, the pinnacle of voltage levels in the world, has been charged from BHEL's 1200 kV UHVAC transformer at Bina in MP. Significantly, India's first 1200 kV, 333 MVA Transformer has been developed, manufactured and successfully tested by BHEL entirely through in-house know-how. With this, India has joined a select band of countries in the world possessing this technology. The development of the 1200 kV UHVAC transformer is the outcome of two years of rigorous research by the engineers of BHEL. BHEL had signed an MoU with PowerGrid for development of this transformer which is also the largest equipment used in a substation. The 333 MVA, 1150/400/33 kV, single-phase, Auto Transformer successfully developed by BHEL has been installed in India's first experimental 1200 kV National Test Station at Bina (MP) being set up by PowerGrid. Having introduced 765 kV as the highest transmission voltage, the country is aspiring to shift to 1200 kV voltage transmission networks during the XIIth plan period. A large network comprising 1200 kV transmission superhighways is being planned as part of the National Transmission Network. For the transmission sector, BHEL has developed various systems and products which include Power Transformers, Instrument Transformers and Disc Insulators suitable for UHVAC systems of 765 kV and 1200 kV. BHEL manufactures transformers, shunt reactors, instrument transformers, capacitors, extra high voltage circuit breakers and medium voltage switchgear at its facilities located at Bhopal, Hyderabad and Jhansi, besides providing total systems solution for HVDC, Extra High Voltage Alternating Current (EHVAC) and UHVAC Systems. BHEL is the biggest transformer manufacturer in India with a capacity to manufacture 45,000 MVA of transformers/reactors per annum. The company has set up a modern state-of-the-art manufacturing plant of 12,000 MVA at Bhopal to manufacture large sized EHV, HVDC and UHVAC transformers and reactors.

S Dani

J C DeSa

Two 1980 batch IAS officers Indraneel S Dani and Anthony J C DeSa have been promoted to the rank of ACS in Madhya Pradesh on Monday.