Patna, Feb. 25: Sudhir Kumar Rakesh, one of Bihar's senior-most IAS officers with chief secretary-level pay, has sought voluntary retirement - the first manifestation of the grumbling in the state bureaucracy over sweeping powers given to chief minister Nitish Kumar's new administrative instrument, the Bihar Vikas Mission.
Rakesh, a 1983-batch officer posted as principal secretary of the panchayati raj department with additional charge as director-general of the Bihar Institute of Public Administration and Rural Development, submitted his application under the voluntary retirement scheme to the state government on February 23. He has requested that he be relieved from duty by August 31, exactly a year before his actual retirement date.
Though the 58-year-old officer did not respond to attempts to reach him, his close associates told The Telegraph that he was thoroughly unhappy with the way things were shaping up with the Mission, in which chief minister Nitish Kumar's poll strategist and adviser Prashant Kishor is a key member.
The state government has constituted the Mission to ensure that Nitish's seven resolves for Bihar are implemented on priority. It will fix priorities and monitor achievements against targets of the programmes meant to develop Bihar.
The chief minister is the chairperson of the Mission's governing body with Kishor, all other ministers, chief secretary, development commissioner, principal secretaries, secretaries, director general of police, and the Mission director as members.
"Rakesh is a cool person when it comes to work pressure," said a colleague under cover of anonymity. "He served as chief electoral officer of Bihar from January 5, 2006 to April 18, 2013, conducting parliamentary and state elections during the tenure. But he was under tremendous mental pressure recently and not enjoying the work."
Other senior IAS officers also said that the Mission was the root cause behind Rakesh's decision to apply for voluntary retirement, and that he resented reporting to Kishor as well as 1994-batch IAS officer Atish Chandra, who is secretary to the chief minister and has been recently appointed the Mission director.
"The real grievance has been that Kishor is not from the service, a political appointee and a non-entity in development works," said an IAS officer who did not want to be identified. "Kishor is devoid of required experience. Rakesh was clear that departments will do all the work needed for development of Bihar, with the Mission or without it. If the chief minister really wanted that people should follow Kishor, he should have made him a minister. Then none of the administrative officers would have felt bad."
Another senior IAS said the Mission director was another rankling figure. The Mission's project management unit works under the director's supervision. He is also supposed to coordinate between the governing and executive bodies, as well as seven sub-missions for development. With sweeping administrative and financial powers, the director is also duty-bound to brief the Mission chairman - Nitish - from time to time about the achievements against targets, stipulated activities, and progress of the Mission.
"Chandra has been close to the centre of power for long as secretary to chief minister and now with additional responsibility of mission director he has grown more powerful," the IAS officer said. "These young boys have the tendency to indulge in bossism while dealing with departments."
Rakesh's department is closely involved in implementation of Nitish's resolves; it will provide Rs 6,000 crore per year till 2020 to 8,397 panchayats in the state to ensure piped water supply, pucca lanes and drains, and streetlights.
Serving and retired IAS officers were surprised to learn about Rakesh's voluntary retirement application.
"Rakesh is an honest, hardworking, imaginative and innovative officer," said former chief secretary V.S. Dubey. "He has been the best among the present Bihar-cadre IAS officers. It is a tragedy he was not given good postings or challenging tasks. The government never utilised him according to his capabilities."
An economics graduate from Patna College, Rakesh was sent to Bengal as special observer during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. He is also known in his friend circle as an avid reader and cricket aficionado. He has written newspaper articles on the sport.
"He is a fantastic human being," said Rakesh's friend Asim Dasgupta, a businessman. "Before getting into IAS, Rakesh was selected as an IPS. His eldest son recently joined as an Uttar Pradesh-cadre IPS, while another son is in the process of joining a job."
Another friend, Arindam Guha, said Rakesh is known for his integrity and unbending attitude in matters of principle: "Maybe he was not in the good books of the government, hence was frequently transferred recently."