Another blow to Himachal’s lean bureaucratic set-up

Mittal,Principal Secretary (Power),is currently on leave after his return from a month-long training in Ahmedabad.

Senior officials in the personnel department confirmed that Mittal has applied for Central deputation and his request has already been forwarded to the Centre.

Mittal,who had served his Central deputation earlier in the mid-Nineties,had returned to the state in 1998 on the government’s request to accept a posting as principal secretary to the then chief minister,Prem Kumar Dhumal.

This time,on Dhumal’s return to power in the state,Mittal was posted at a key position as Principal Secretary (Power) and Public Works Department. However,soon,he was asked to shed the PWD charge and was given the additional assignment of chairman,HP State Electricity Board.

The recent CFL tendering controversy and then the Brakel case put Mittal and also the government in a tight spot. Mittal chose to retreat from the scene and took up the Election Commission (EC) duty as poll observer in Rajasthan. Now,he seems to be no longer keen to return to the post.

His charge,earlier being handled by R K Jain,chairman HPSEB,and before him by Principal Secretary (Finance) Arvind Mehta,is now being looked after by Chief Secretary Asha Swaroop.

Meanwhile,the state government has so far not got any respite from the Supreme Court,which is hearing a case relating to seniority of senior Himachal Administrative Services officers. The case was listed for yesterday,but could not be taken up for hearing.

State’s Secretary (Personnel) Diljit Dogra is camping in Delhi for a follow-up and to see that the government gets some relief to facilitate promotion of 17 HAS officers,who have been awaiting induction in the IAS for the past three years.

Himachal Pradesh has a shortfall of approximately 63 officers in the 129-member cadre.