Chandigarh’s top administrative posts vacant: here are the IAS officers who are frontrunners

The posts of home secretary and deputy commissioner were held by Haryana-cadre IAS officers, while the finance secretary and municipal corporation commissioner are from the Punjab cadre on a deputation of three years.

Sources said that IAS officers Amit Agrawal, a 2003-batch officer, and Mandeep Brar from the Haryana cadre are the frontrunners for the home secretary post. In October 2018 Brar was appointed as deputy commissioner in the Union Territory on a three-year deputation. He is now the director of information and public relations in Haryana, where Agrawal is additional principal secretary to the chief minister.

Meanwhile, for the finance secretary post, three IAS officers from the Punjab cadre are the frontrunners—Amit Dhaka, Mohammad Tayyub and Amit Kumar, IAS officers of the 2006, 2007 and 2008 batches, respectively.

Former finance secretary Vijay Zade had got an extension of a month owing to the elections.

As Deputy Commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh’s tenure is also about to end in October, the Union Territory has already sought a panel of officers to choose from for the post. The Haryana-cadre officer joined the Chandigarh administration in 2021 on a three-year deputation that will end in October.

Similarly, the key post of Chandigarh municipal commissioner, held by IAS officer Anindita Mitra, is also getting vacant as her tenure ends in August. Mitra joined the Chandigarh administration in August 2021. She is from Punjab and an extension of a year was sought from Punjab.

An entirely new team

The new Union Territory adviser, Rajeev Verma, from the AGMUT (Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram and Union Territories) cadre, was posted to Chandigarh only in January. Verma had to fill in after his predecessor Dharam Pal sought voluntary retirement in October 2023. The adviser’s post lay vacant for months before Verma was posted.

With a new home secretary, finance secretary, deputy commissioner and a municipal corporation commissioner, the city will get an entirely new team.