Navin Chawla

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Navin Chawla (born 30 July 1945) is an Election Commissioner in the Election Commission of India. He was born in New Delhi.

Contents

[edit] Education

High School

The Lawrence School, Sanawar, Himachal Pradesh, (1953-1961) Senior School Certificate (1961). Won a Government of India Scholarship, one of the first of such Schemes, which supported the first two years at The Lawrence School.

University

1. B.A. (Hons.) History, St. Stephen’s College, Delhi (1962-65).

2. B.A. (ions.) History, London University (1965-67) (obtained an upper Second Division).

3. Diploma in Social Administration, The London School of Economics (1968)

4. Fellow, Queen Elizabeth House, Oxford University (1996-1997).

[edit] Career

He is an IAS officer of the 1969 batch. He was appointed as election commissioner in 2005 to fill the vacancy caused by the elevation of B B Tandon as Chief Election Commissioner of India. A Constitutional appointment, Election Commissioners are appointed for a term of 6 years or till they reach the age of 65, whichever is earlier. Appointed on 16 May 2005, his term will extend till 30 July 2010. A career bureaucrat, he served in different capacities up to May 2005, rising to the level of full Secretary to the Government of India.

His last posting in the Civil Service was that of Union Information and Broadcasting Secretary from May 2004 to May 2005. He had earlier served the same Ministry as Joint Secretary from November 1992 to October 1996 during which he held the Broadcasting charge, at a critical juncture when television and radio opened up from purely State owned entities to permit private players to enter the broadcasting arena.

Earlier Appointments

Oct., 2003 to May, 2004 : Secretary to Government of India, Department of to Consumer Affairs, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution (a) As Secretary Consumer Affairs, he strengthened interaction with national and regional consumer organizations in the country. (b) Took up hallmarking of Silver and Gold as a new thrust area, in view of India being the largest importer of bullion for purpose of jewellery. Awareness of Hallmarking was taken up so that consumers were not cheated in terms of purity and weight. The priority areas were to set up hallmarking centers, encouraging retail outlets to sell hallmarked goods, and educating consumers as to why they should demand hallmarked products. Another thrust area was education of consumers / strengthening consumer organizations in areas of piracy and counterfeiting especially of medicines.

July, 2003 to Sep., 2003: Special Secretary (in the rank of Secretary to the Union to Government) Ministry of Environment & Forests. 2001-03: Secretary, Union Public Service Commission, New Delhi. (a) Brought closer and periodic interaction between UPSC and all Ministries and Departments, in order to speed up clearances by the UPSC. (b) Initiated interaction with the Deptt. of Personnel and AR: in order that disabled candidates (hearing impaired, visually impaired and orthopaedically handicapped) could be placed against specific Govt. vacancies.

2000-01: Principal Secretary, Government of Pondicherry with responsibilities for Power, Ports, Tourism and Art and Culture Departments & Chairman, Pondicherry Tourism Development Corporation Ltd. 2000. In the aftermath of 9/11 which affected global tourism, provided thrust to domestic tourism in Pondicherry. As Chairman of the Pondicherry Power Corporation Limited increased productivity as well as augmented power from the Grid. The Port of Pondicherry which had remained dormant for several years, saw shipping encouraged. Reorganised the City Museum, its priceless collection of Chola bronzes were restored with the help of the conservation center of the National Museum, Delhi.

2000: Divisional Commissioner, Delhi

1998-2000: Principal Secretary, Govt. of Delhi with responsibilities for Services, General Administration Department, and information and Publicity.

1997-98: Chairman of the Delhi Vidyut (Electricity) Board, revenues increased in his tenure significantly on a/c of internal reforms and enhanced collection methods. (a) Initiated reforms by setting up Grievance Adalats, which were chaired by eminent citizens including, retired civil and military officers, and held at frequent intervals so that long pending grievances and issues could be settled quickly, and often by the end of the day. (b) Introduced reforms in meter reading, which was then a major grievance with the public. (c) Initiated the first moves towards privatization of D.V.B.

1996: Joint Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, New Delhi. Nov. 1992 Joint Secretary (Broadcasting), Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, New Delhi with special responsibility for Doordarshan and All India Radio.

1991-92 Resident Representative of the Government of Goa in Delhi.

1989-90: Secretary, Medical and Public Health, Delhi Administration.

1987-89: General Manager, Super Bazar, Delhi.

1986-1987: On Study Leave for 9 months to study the leprosy situation in India leading to a report entitled “The Vocational Rehabilitation and Social Re-integration of the Leprosy Affected in India”.

1984-86: On assignment to the International Labour Organisation, Bangkok.

1981-84: Director, Ministry of Labour Member of the Indian delegation to the ILO Conference at The International Labour Organisation, Geneva from 1982-84.

1980-81: Deputy Secretary, Ministry of Labour.

1979-80: 1. Finance Secretary, Pondicherry. 2. Additional Secretary, Town Planning. (As Secretary, Town Planning, identified over 100 buildings of historic and architectural interest for conservation).

1977-79: Collector, Lakshadweep.

1975-77: 1. Secretary to Lt. Governor, Delhi. 2. Spearheaded the establishment of the Delhi Tourism Development Corporation and served as its Director. 3. Director, Delhi State Industrial Development Corporation. 4. Director, Delhi Financial Corporation.

1973-75: Additional District Magistrate, Delhi.

1971-73: Sub-Divisional Magistrate. Delhi.

[edit] Awards

In March 2005, he was presented the Mazzini award by the Government of Italy "in recognition of his efforts to forge a new relationship with Italy and strengthening existing bonds". 2005 : The Mazzini Award from the Government of Italy. 2005 : Award from the Institution of Directors, New Delhi on the 20th of August 2004.

[edit] Author

He has authored two books on Mother Teresa and a Report on the rehabilitation of the leprosy affected in India.

(1) 1992: He authored a biography of Mother Teresa, with her cooperation, entitled “Mother Teresa”. (http://www.amazon.com/dp/1852309113) First published by Sinclair-Stevenson, U.K. (1992), since translated into 14 languages in India and abroad. Indian languages editions include, Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Malayalam, Tamil Telugu, Kannada. The foreign language editions include French, German, Dutch, Spanish, Italian, Polish, Japanese and Thai. In both Indian and foreign languages, there have been Multiple editions. The bulk of royalty income goes to charity. The royalty from the Indian language editions goes to the Missionaries of Charity, Kolkata. The major part of the foreign royalties support The Lepra India Trust (over Rs. 50 lakhs by January, 2008), an NGO based in Delhi which provides vocational training to two categories of youth, i.e. (i) the hearing impaired and (ii) the children of leprosy patients and also provides treatment to leprosy patients once a week.

(2) 1996: “Faith and Compassion – The Life and Work of Mother Teresa” (co-authored with Photographer Raghu Rai) published by Element Books (UK & USA), translated also into Dutch and Spanish.

(3) 1987: “The Vocational Rehabilitation and Social Re-integration of the Leprosy Affected in India”. This report was released at the India International Centre in New Delhi by Mother Teresa herself on 18 October 1988.

[edit] Controversies

At the time of Indian Emergency (1975 - 77) he was secretary to the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi. Shah Commission which inquired into the excesses during the Emergency, indicted Mr Chawla for having been 'authoritarian and callous' and for gross misuse of power "in cynical disregard of the welfare of citizens". Further, it declared that he was "unfit to hold any public office which demands an attitude of fair play and consideration for others" [1]

Election Commissioner and his wife Rupika ran the Jaipur-based Lala Chaman Lal Education Trust which had secured MPLADS funds from Congress MPs — A.A. Khan, R.P. Goenka, Ambika Soni, Dr Karan Singh and Mr A.R. Kidwai.The trust was allotted six acres of land by the Congress government in Rajasthan when Mr Ashok Gehlot was the Chief Minister. [2]

In March 2006, the National Democratic Alliance presented the President of India, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam with a memorandum signed by over 200 MPs for his removal. The memorandum questioned his impartiality in light of his alleged links with the Indian National Congress.

In May 2006 Jaswant Singh the leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha moved Supreme Court of India seeking removal of the controversial Election Commissioner Navin Chawla taking the plea that he would not be able to discharge his duty impartially in view of several allegations of improprieties against him. [3]

The BJP later withdrew its petition filed in the Supreme Court against Navin Chawla [4]

There has been some criticism of the manner in which the Election Commission has been dragged into controversies. [http://www.asianage.com/presentation/leftnavigation/opinion/op-ed/don%E2%80%99t-damage-ec-credibility.aspx ]

[edit] Further reading

[edit] References