Chandigarh: UT cadre officers outnumber their counterparts from Punjab, Haryana

According to norms, 60% bureaucrats in Chandigarh have to come from Punjab and 40% from Haryana. However, this is not being complied with.

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The UT cadre started to gain strength during the tenure of last adviser K K Sharma, who had to face criticism for giving preferential treatment to UT cadre officers. The then home secretary, Anil Kumar, in January 2014 had written to the Haryana government urging it to take up the issue of giving preferential treatment to UT cadre officers with the ministry of home affairs. Prior to that, the officers of the two states had held a meeting with the adviser in 2012 to discuss the issue of favouritism shown to the AGMUT cadre.

The influence of AGMUT cadre has gained strength after Vijay Kumar Dev took over as UT Adviser. During his one-year stint so far, a total of four UT cadre officers have joined the Chandigarh Administration.

Not only that, all the nine UT cadre officers are holding important positions, some of which were earlier held by officers from Punjab and Haryana. Deputy Commissioner, a Haryana cadre post, also used to have charge of commissioner excise and taxation. At present, S B Deepak Kumar is holding the charge of commissioner excise and taxation. The adviser has been holding the post of chief vigilance officer (CVO) since 2012, a post that is traditionally held by the home secretary.

All the sub-divisional magistrates — Prince Dhawan, Kashish Mittal and Danish Ashraf, all UT cadre officers — are holding multiple charges in the administration and they have also been made additional joint commissioner in the municipal corporation.

The posts of the adviser and chairman, Chandigarh Housing Board, is reserved for a UT cadre officer, whereas finance secretary comes from Punjab and home secretary and deputy commissioner from Haryana.

Taking serious note of the growing clout of the UT cadre in Chandigarh, the Punjab government was contemplating moving court against the Chandigarh Administration for violation of the norms about giving posting to Punjab and Haryana officers in 60:40 ratio.

An officer on request of anonymity stated that the number of total officers in the Chandigarh Administration had gone high, which was turning out to be a bane for effective coordination and implementation.

When contacted, Depinder Singh Dhesi, chief secretary to government of Haryana, said, “The letter and spirit of Punjab Reorganisation Act should be followed and the interests of all stakeholders should be taken care of.”

Despite repeated attempts, UT Adviser Dev was not available for comment.

Where they come from

Officers from Haryana: Home Secretary Anurag Aggarwal and Deputy Commissioner Ajit Balaji Joshi.

Officers from Punjab: Finance Secretary Sarvjit Singh, Special Secretary (Finance) Bhawna Garg and CITCO MD Kavita Singh

Officers from UT cadre: Adviser Vijay Kumar Dev; Chandigarh Housing Board chairman Maninder Singh, who is on an inter-cadre deputation from Assam-Meghalaya cadre to the AGMUT cadre; Special Secretary (Home) S B Deepak Kumar; Secretary (Agriculture) K N arasimha; Secretary (Personnel) Vikram Dev Dutt; Prince Dhawan, Kashish Mittal and Danish Ashraf, all SDMs; and Jitender Yadav