Wajahat Habibullah retired on September 30 as secretary, Panchayati Raj, at the ripe old age of 60. He stepped out of his office in Krishi Bhavan, Delhi, only to move into the CGO Complex a few kilometres away as India's first chief information commissioner, a position on par with the chief election commissioner in power, perks and prestige.

In September, Habibullah drew a basic salary of Rs 26,000 but in October his basic was Rs 30,000-almost the same as the cabinet secretary's-with an overall package of nearly Rs 60,000 a month. All these are apart from the perks that come with a top-flight government job: a car, bungalow, home office, two clerks, a peon and protocol preference that no money can buy. Even the monetary difference is stark-as retired secretary, Habibullah would have drawn about Rs 15,000 as pension while the new job entitles him to four times that figure.

NEW NESTS    Regulatory commissions,    grievances cells, administrative    tribunals and election commissions    are the new haunts.

A.N. TIWARI Retired as secretary, Department of Personnel and Training, he is central information commissioner now. K.K. MISHRA Retired as chief secretary, Karnataka, to become state chief information commissioner. SHAILAJA CHANDRA Retired as Delhi chief secretary, she is now chairperson of Delhi Public Grievances Cell. VINEETA RAI Former secretary of economic affairs, she is secretary of Administrative Reforms Commission. WAJAHAT HABIBULLAH After retiring as secretary, Panchayati Raj, he is India's chief information commissioner.

Like Habibullah, there are hundreds of bureaucrats who, in a sense, have never retired from service. Many have resigned months short of retirement to extend their sarkari tenure in another fancy post. There are at least 12 retired chief secretaries of various states who have kept their perks intact by moving on to a cushy job. The best parking lots are grievances cells, administrative tribunals, state election commissions, human rights commissions, public service commissions (PSCs), the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction and the India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO). The Right to Information Act (RTI) has provided the latest nesting place for all retiring birds and former chief secretaries of Punjab, Maharashtra, Kerala and Chhattisgarh have already benefited from it. Another 300 can be easily accommodated in information commissions at the rate of 10 in each of the 30 states. Being an insider helps, plus they get to enjoy unlimited access to decision-makers.

The Department of Personnel and Training piloted the Right to Information Bill through Parliament under its secretary A.N. Tiwari. At the end of the exercise, Tiwari, who was supposed to retire this December, found himself a job as information commissioner at the Centre with a five-year tenure. Tiwari alone cannot be put in the dock as there are several officers who have resigned at the fag end of their careers only to become chief information commissioners (CIC) in various states. Eighteen months short of retirement, D.N. Padhi quit his post of special secretary, power, to take up a five-year tenure in Orissa. Several top bureaucrats have followed suit- B.K. Chakraborty in Tripura, Suresh Joshi in Maharashtra and A.K. Vijayvargiya in Chhattisgarh. "It is just another cushy job," says former cabinet secretary Naresh Chandra, about the whole paraphernalia surrounding the CIC. "There was no need to create the post as it shows the government's distrust in its own work," he adds.

Over the past few decades, the life expectancy in the country has increased and so has the Indian babu's desire to cling to the perks of office. In the private sector, CEOs and CMDs usually don't retire before 65 years. Instances of an insatiable desire to have a prolonged tenure under the red beacon are thus numerous. Shailaja Chandra relinquished the office as chief secretary of Delhi to head the Public Grievances Cell. Now she hears complaints about the Establishment which till the other day she was part of. No chief secretary of Madhya Pradesh in the past decade has ever retired for good. N.S. Sethi, K.S. Sharma, A.V. Singh, P.K. Mehrotra, the list seems endless. Many have become chairmen of a tribunal or a commission.

It is the same story in Jharkhand. O.G. Krishnan retired as chief secretary in 200, returned first as head of the newly formed State Finance Commission and then went on to become the state election commissioner. D.S. Mukhopadhyay of the 1967 batch, who was governor Prabhat Kumar's principal secretary, became a member of the State Public Service Commission. In Bihar, some doffing of the hat is mandatory for Mukund Prasad, who was principal secretary to Lalu Prasad Yadav and Rabri Devi for 15 years of which three were post retirement.

Arun Pathak of the 1960 batch can be spoken of in the same breath. After having served as chief secretary to former Bihar chief ministers Bhagwat Jha Azad and Lalu, he is now adviser to Bihar Governor Buta Singh. D.P. Maheshwari of the 1967 batch, who presided over the bitumen scam, was appointed as the state election commissioner. Retired chief secretary of Punjab R.S. Mann has found a suitable designation in the Power Regulatory Commission while Rajan Kashyap landed a job in the Information Commission. Similarly, K.K. Mishra, who was chief secretary of Karnataka, is now CIC. There are other avenues like the ITPO where former urban development secretary N.N. Khanna is happily ensconced and the Administrative Reforms Commission where Vineeta Rai, who was secretary of economic affairs at the Centre, is posted.

Retired IPS officers are not far behind. H.J. Dora, who was DGP of Andhra Pradesh for four years, is now a member in the Central Vigilance Commission while his former colleague P. Ramulu is in the state PSC.

Another question that Chandra raises is how a civil servant who retired as secretary can be treated on par with the cabinet secretary, enjoying a similar pay package. "There was a convention not to give ministerial status to those who retired holding a lower rank," he says.

However, former NSA Brajesh Mishra finds nothing wrong in the practice of re-employing bureaucrats: "If the government finds someone useful, it is free to do so," he says. "The problem arises when it is alleged that the particular person got the post because he had access to certain people." Mishra's point is relevant as not all re-employed bureaucrats are unworthy of the new posts. Some of them like E. Sreedharan, who, at 73, has an extended contract to complete the Delhi Metro, are regarded as experts in their fields. Still, re-employment should be an exception, not a rule.

Even the judiciary has been caught in the post-retirement trap. Most state human rights commissions and power tariff commissions have a mix of retired judges and IAS officers. Offices of the Lok Ayukta require a retired judge of the Supreme Court or a chief justice of a high court. Many such posts may be necessary but they add to the exchequer's burden. The CICs alone mean an additional expenditure of Rs 100 crore a year.

As they move from one plum post to the other, it is highly unlikely that these top bureaucrats have heard of a small town called Sreekaryam in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. Scientists, academics, engineers and railwaymen have come back home and are using their experience and expertise to draw and implement microlevel plans for their town. That is also a post-retirement job-with a difference.

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