Rajagopalan may not be relieved

By K.T. Sangameswaran

CHENNAI, JULY 28. Nearly a week has passed after the Union Government appointed Dr. R. Rajagopalan Director-General of the National Security Guards, but the Tamil Nadu Government is yet to relieve him from the post of Director-General of Police, Training.

As per present indications, the State Government is not likely to relieve him and thus enable him to join as the chief of the elite commando unit.

Official sources say the Centre has already communicated its decision - the approval by the Appointments Committee, headed by the Prime Minister, of Dr. Rajagopalan's appointment - to the State Government.

In the normal course, the State Government can issue the order relieving an all-India service officer the same day of receipt of the Centre's decision seeking utilisation of his or her services on deputation. But in the present case, five days have gone by. One version is that the Tamil Nadu Government is irked at the Centre not consulting it on the appointment. This may also form the grounds for its turning down the Centre's request. As the State Government plans to plead inability to spare the services of the three other officers, it might appear odd if it agrees to relieve Dr. Rajagopalan alone.

But, it is pointed out, the selection of Dr. Rajagopalan as the Director-General of NSG will bring honour to south India, Tamil Nadu in particular, for, perhaps for the first time, an officer from this part of the country has been appointed to the post.

And, this is not the first time the officer's services are being requisitioned by the Centre. Nearly 10 years ago, Dr. Rajagopalan, belonging to the 1965 batch, who had been empanelled, was selected for the post of Joint Secretary in the Union Department of Personnel. What was more, he was tipped for a U.N. assignment also. But the State Government did not want to relieve him.

Seeking the services of an officer on deputation to the Centre or sending him or her back to the parent cadre is normally a smooth affair for maintaining good Centre-State relations.

The sources recall how the Union Government sent back to Tamil Nadu Mr. K. Vijayakumar, who was then Inspector-General of the Border Security Force, when the State Government wanted to utilise his services for the Special Task Force to nab the forest brigand, Veerappan.

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