News Analysis India

Tag: RAW

  • Tapan Deka to be new IB chief, RAW chief Goel gets year’s extension

    By IANS

    NEW DELHI: IPS officer Tapan Kumar Deka was on Friday appointed the new chief of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) while Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) chief Samant Kumar Goel got one year’s extension of tenure.

    A 1988 batch Himachal Pradesh cadre officer and an expert on northeast affairs, Deka currently heads the IB’s operations desk and has been tracking terrorists and religious radicalisation for the past two decades.

    “The Appointment Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of Tapan Kumar Deka, IPS, Special Director, Intelligence Bureau, as Director Intelligence Bureau vice Arvinda Kumar IPS, upon completion of his tenure on 30.06.2022 for a tenure of two years from the date of assumption of the charge of the post or until further orders, whichever is earlier,” said a notification from Appointments Committee of the Cabinet.

    RAW chief Goel, a 1984 batch IPS officer of the Punjab cadre, got second extension for one year.

    “The appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the extension in service of Samant Kumar Goel, IPS (PB:84) as Secretary, Research & Analysis Wing for a period of one year beyond his present tenure i.e. up to 30.06.2023,” said the notification.

  • After CBI and ED, now service extension basket gets wider in intelligence too

    By Express News Service

    NEW DELHI:  Defence and home secretaries, as well as the director of Intelligence Bureau and the Research & Analysis Wing (RAW) chief, can now be given extensions of up to two years, as the Centre has just issued a gazette notification amending the Fundamental Rules of all services. 

    The Fundamental Rules, 1992, are an overarching set of rules that apply to all civilian government servants. They cover the entire gamut of their in-service and post-retirement working scenarios.

    Officials said the gazette notification was needed to bring the rulebook in line with the two ordinances promulgated on Sunday to give the heads of the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) service extension up to three years beyond their fixed tenure of two years, one year at a time.

    At present, civil servants have a fixed tenure of two years in these posts, and their appointments are governed by the Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act.

    Through the ordinance, the government amended the DSPE Act and the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) Act so as to extend the service of the ED and CBI chiefs up to five years. 

    Monday’s notification implies that if the government wants, it can extend the tenure of other senior officers — defense secretary, home secretary, IB director and RAW secretary — up to four years. “This notification was necessary to clear the path for all such extensions as the Fundamental Rules are overarching,” a senior government functionary said.

    The official said the objective of the ordinance as well as the notification is the same — to ensure that important policy decisions and investigations get adequate time.

    “It takes several months for the incumbent to just understand the organisation and next year it is time to go. So, it is in the interest of these institutions that the government has paved the way for longer tenures of these important officials.”  

    Interestingly, the current home secretary as also the heads of IB and RAW are all on one-year extension after completing their two-year fixed terms.

    Trinamool moves notice in Rajya Sabha

    The Opposition kept up its attack on the ordinances, claiming they were aimed at “misusing the agencies”. The Trinamool moved a notice for statutory resolutions in the Rajya Sabha against the ordinances.

  • India trashes Pakistan’s claim of R&AW’s hand in attack near Hafiz Saeed’s residence in Lahore

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: India on Thursday strongly trashed Pakistan’s allegations that Indian spy agency R&AW orchestrated last month’s bomb blast in Lahore. Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said it is not new for Pakistan to engage in “baseless propaganda” against India.

    He said that Pakistan should focus on setting its own house in order and take credible and verifiable action against terrorism emanating from its soil. The international community is well aware of Pakistan’s credentials when it comes to terrorism, he said.

    On Sunday, Pakistan’s National Security Adviser Moeed Yusuf alleged that India was behind the blast outside the house of Hafiz Saeed in Lahore. Saeed is the 2008 Mumbai terror attack mastermind and chief of the banned Jamat-ud-Dawa (JuD).

    Three persons were killed and 24 others injured in the blast.

  • Centre grants one-year extension of tenure to chiefs of Intelligence Bureau, R&AW

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI:  The government on Thursday extended the tenure of heads of the two intelligence agencies Intelligence Bureau (IB) and Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW). It also approved a change of guard in Jammu and Kashmir’s top bureaucratic post of chief secretary.

    The tenure of IPS officer Samant Kumar Goel, Secretary, R&AW, was extended by one year. His batchmate Aravinda Kumar, Director, IB, also got an extension of one year. BVR Subramanyam, chief secretary of J&K, was brought to Delhi as OSD in Commerce Ministry. The extensions were cleared by the Appointments Committee of Cabinet.

    Before his appointment as R&AW chief, Goel was heading operations for the agency and played a key role in planning the February 2019 Balakot airstrike and the 2016 surgical strikes. His extension ends speculation whether a six-month criterion used in the Central Bureau of Investigation director’s recent appointment would apply here as well.

    Sources said, in the CBI chief’s appointment, CJI NV Ramana cited past judgments of the Supreme Court and argued that no officer having less than six months of service left should be considered. Subrahmanyam, a 1987 batch IAS officer, has been appointed Officer on Special Duty in the Commerce Ministry. He will take over as Commerce Secretary from June 30.

    A Chhattisgarh-cadre officer, he had been hand-picked for the J&K role. “ACC has also approved his appointment as secretary, department of commerce, upon superannuation of Anup Wadhwan IAS secretary department of commerce on 30.06 2021,” the order said.

    Mehta replaces Subramanyam as Jammu & Kashmir chief secretary

    AK Mehta was on Thursday appointed chief secretary of Jammu and Kashmir in place of BVR Subramanyam. Mehta, who is at present the financial commissioner, has served in the UT for a long time.