Major bureaucratic reshuffle expected in Delhi after PM presides over chief secretaries meet

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to preside over the 3rd National Conference of Chief Secretaries (CS) in the capital which, sources said, had held back the exercise so far. The conference will be held between December 27 and 29.

According to sources, the reshuffle is also likely to have a ripple effect on appointments in the Union Territories (UTs) of Puducherry and Chandigarh – which has been functioning without an Adviser to the Administrator, a post considered equivalent to that of the CS of states – since 1988-batch IAS officer Dharampal retired in late October.

Likely the last exercise of its kind before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the reshuffle, sources said, will see the transfer and posting of several senior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers of the AGMUT or central cadre.

The rejig is part of a larger exercise, which has been necessitated by the recent retirement of several senior IAS officers across the cadre which presides over appointments in Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram and the UTs.

In addition to the Adviser to the Administrator of Chandigarh, Dharampal, Delhi Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar, of the same batch and cadre, and J&K’s Chief Secretary Arun Kumar Mehta were scheduled to retire by November-end.

While the tenure of Delhi’s CS – a matter which reached the Supreme Court – was finally extended for a period of six months by the Centre, Mehta was replaced by 1989-batch AGMUT cadre IAS officer Atal Dulloo, the likelihood of which was reported by The Indian Express on October 25.

While Delhi and J&K got senior officers to helm their respective administrations, the Centre had not named Dharampal’s successor in Chandigarh where the additional charge of Adviser has been held by 2000-batch Haryana cadre IAS officer Nitin Yadav since his predecessor’s superannuation – which was likely to be factored in in the reshuffle.