Employees of a Ministry handling the subject of trade and commerce often refer to ‘two hot seats’ during their gossip sessions, they say.

According to them, the Ministry Secretary is the occupant of one of these hot seats and the occupant of the other seat is the chairman of a state-run trading undertaking that comes under the Ministry. 

They call their seats ‘hot seats’ because appointees to these two top posts do not occupy them for more than a few weeks. 

Meanwhile, some inquisitive ones claim that they have unearthed the reason why the appointees to these two posts do not last long;

However, they do not clearly explain the reason. They give it wrapped up in a three- word conundrum:  three percent cut.

The appointees who happily take over these top jobs hastily quit them after a few weeks for fear of falling into hot water, and they remain tight-lipped after quitting for fear of possible repercussions, they say.