IAS officer at helm of excise policy case probe shifted to Arunachal, 31 others transferred
The three IAS officers transferred out of Delhi included 2012-batch AGMUT or central cadre officer Y V V J Rajasekhar, who, in his capacity as special secretary (Vigilance), was assigned inquires against the AAP-led Delhi government and its ministers.
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Rajasekhar is the only official to have been transferred to Arunachal Pradesh from the capital.In a significant reshuffle involving five Union territories, including Jammu & Kashmir and Delhi, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Thursday transferred eight senior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers, even as 31 others were posted in various Delhi government departments as part of the first internal exercise of its kind after Chief Minister Atishi assumed office.
The three IAS officers transferred out of Delhi included 2012-batch AGMUT or central cadre officer Y V V J Rajasekhar, who, in his capacity as special secretary (Vigilance), was assigned inquires against the AAP-led Delhi government and its ministers.
These included the excise policy case in relation to which several senior AAP leaders, in addition to former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, have served time in prison. He has been replaced by 2011-batch officer Ajay Kumar Bisht, posted as Staff Officer to Delhi Chief Secretary Dharmendra, with additional charge of special secretary (Vigilance).
Rajasekhar, who was on the other end of several run-ins between the bureaucracy and the Delhi government in his additional capacity as special secretary (Services), is the only officer to have been transferred to Arunachal Pradesh from Delhi.
During a debate in Parliament last year on the GNCTD (Amendment) Bill, 2023, which gave the reins of Services and more teeth to the office of the Delhi L-G, Rajasekhar had found a mention in Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s speech in connection with an alleged attempt by the AAP government to “break into” a strong room in his office where “sensitive files” related to ongoing investigations against ministers were stored.
Two other IAS officers transferred to Jammu and Kashmir – Nidhi Malik of the 2013 batch and Ram Niwas Sharma of the 2010 batch – were posted in the MCD and the Delhi government’s labour department, respectively, by the MHA. Bipul Pathak, a 1992-batch officer who was posted in Jammu & Kashmir, along with 2007-batch officer Rashmi Singh, have been transferred to Delhi.
The MHA order also included the postings of 2006-batch officer Saugat Biswas from Arunachal Pradesh to Jammu & Kashmir and that of 2007-batch officer Yasha Mudgal, who was transferred from Jammu & Kashmir to Puducherry.
Meanwhile, 31 IAS and DANICS officers were reshuffled following a nod from the Delhi CM-chaired three-member National Capital Civil Service Authority, which holds jurisdiction over the transfer, posting and vigilance matters of all civil servants serving in the Delhi government.
The most significant among these were the appointment of 2002-batch IAS officer Nihkil Kumar as Secretary Revenue-cum-divisional commissioner, 2006-batch IAS officer Shilpa Shinde as CEO of the Delhi Jal Board and 2011-batch officer Ravi Jha as the excise commissioner.
A senior official termed the transfers as “a significant development in totality” and an exercise in “streamlining the relationship between the Centre and Delhi” after a change at the helm of the bureaucracy at both following the appointment of 1989-batch officers Govind Mohan of the Sikkim cadre and Dharmendra of the AGMUT cadre as Union Home Secretary and Delhi chief secretary, respectively.
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