HP relents on Central postings for IAS officers

There is some good news for IAS officers in Himachal Pradesh who are seeking central deputations,and other career advancement programmes in the central government.

There is some good news for IAS officers in Himachal Pradesh who are seeking central deputations,and other career advancement programmes in the central government,and other agencies both within and outside India in the New Year.

The state government has decided to lift the bar on these officers despite a shortage of bureaucrats after some of the brightest faces opted for deputations in the past three years.

I have asked all the officers keen for central deputations to apply to the state government. Next,we will examine the situation and possibly in January 2011 we would decide on how many of them could be granted permission,” said Chief Secretary Rajwant Sandhu on Thursday.

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“The government is also expecting return of few IAS officers from their central deputations and they could be joining us shortly. The situation would then change,” he added.

Earlier,Sandhu had opposed sending more IAS officers on central deputation and had cited shortage of officers in the state.

The state government in recent days have been facing dearth of officers. There is a shortage of at least 30 IAS officers but a few senior officers are still sitting idle or left with little work. Adding to it,a few tainted officers are managing key positions despite pending vigilance cases against them. Recently,the High Court had asked the state government to file affidavits listing the names of the officers,including IAS officers,who were arrested in graft cases but were manning plum posts.

To fill-in the shortage of officers,the personnel department appointed members of Indian Forest Services (IFS) and Indian Police Services (IPS) to those posts that were earlier held by IAS or senior State Administrative Services Officers.

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The move,however,did not go down well with many officers. On the cards there is a string of senior officers retiring (See box). The government is yet to find replacement for Avay Shukla who will reture as Additional Chief Secretary (Forest) this month. The government will also have to find substitute for Subash Negi,Chairman of Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board (HPSEB).

The two frontrunners for this post are Chief Minister’s Principal Secretary Bhim Sen or ex-HPSEB chairman RK Jain,who is considering returning to the state.

Retirement spree

*Asha Swaroop retired as Chief Secretary

*Subash Negi retired as Principal Secretary

*Avay Shukla,Additional Chief Secretary (Forest),will retire this month

*Himachal has a cadre strength of 129 IAS officers and next month,a reshuffle at the top level is on the cards. Grapevine has it that some of the sidelined officers will get significant posts this time

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