No Chair man for CBEC?
CBEC Chairman S Dutt Mazumder is to retire on 31 st of this month, and it is heard that he has not shown interest in a possible extension. [I remember a couple of weeks before Justice Abichandani was to retire as CESTAT President, I asked him about the rumour that he was trying for an extension. He immediately called his wife and asked her to answer my question. She told me that even if he was given an extension, he would not accept it - he had had enough! ].
So most probably, we will have a new Chairman from 1 st of November. Not exactly! The grapevine has it that the Board is likely to have its first woman head from next month. So, it will be a Chairwoman or Chairperson as they say.
It is not uncommon for the Government to overlook the senior most eligible officer while making top appointments. In June 2011 Vinay Mittal supersed over 14 officers to become the Chairman of the Railway Board, when he was not even a Member of the Board. Of course, this will create problems for the administration where a senior member may not like to work under a junior as Chairman.
The CBEC already has three women Members and some more are likely to join soon. A lady as the chief and a few more ladies as members, will surely present a new look Board - better. Of course, women don't work as hard as men; they get it right the first time.
We will have to wait for some more time to know the final outcome. It seems the Committee of Secretaries is meeting on 18 th October to select the new Chairman or is it the new Chairwoman or Chairperson?