As the secretary-level empanelment process of 1984 & 1985 batch IAS officers hits its last leg (awaiting PM's approval) wild theories and gossips are still doing the rounds in the corridors of power. One among them is about those who have played a role in deciding the selection of future secretaries. Of course, Dr. P K Mishra may take the penultimate call before the matter gets PM's approva. Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha may also have played a big role. There is also wild guessing about former top bureaucrats who were contacted for their informal feedback as part of 360 degrees. Indianmandarins has gathered former Petroleum Secretary and full time Member of 7th Pay Commission Vivek Rae (IAS:1978:UT),former Civil Aviation Secretary M Madhavan Nambiar (Retd IAS:1974:TN), former DoPT Secretary Dr Shyamal Kumar Sarkar (Retd IAS:1979:WB), and former Chief Secretary and CVC of Gujarat Ms Manjula Subramanyam (Retd IAS:1974:GJ) were contacted for their feedback on officers to be empanelled for secretary-level appointments. Nambiar had recently also headed the search-cum-selection-committee for identifying a  Member AERA as well. Nambiar, Rae, and Sarkar were also involved in the empanelment of 1983 batch officers. It may be recalled that the original strength of the 1984 batch is 123, out of which 53 officers are in the race for Secretary empanelment whereas 1985 batch has the strength of 146, out of which 68 are under consideration for empanelment.