UP Chief Secy Durga Mishra gets 3rd extension, Union Health Secy Sudhansh Pant is new Rajasthan CS

The decision to give Mishra a third extension will see him at the helm of affairs in the state well beyond the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Posted as secretary in the Union Housing and Urban Development Department, Mishra was sent to his home state Uttar Pradesh on December 29, 2021, two days before his retirement, for appointment as the chief secretary. He had replaced R K Tiwari.

On the other hand, Pant, a 1991-batch Rajasthan cadre officer who had been posted as secretary in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in August this year, was repatriated to the state prior to his appointment as chief secretary.

Both decisions were taken at a meeting of the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) on Saturday evening. In addition to Uttar Pradesh, the chief secretaries of Odisha and West Bengal too were scheduled to retire on December 31.

While Odisha has extended the tenure of its incumbent chief secretary Pradeep Kumar Jena (1989-batch Odisha cadre) for six months, West Bengal chief secretary Hari Krishna Dwivedi (1988-batch West Bengal cadre) will be succeeded by Bhagwati Prasad Gopalika (1989-batch West Bengal cadre).

Sources in the bureaucracy said Pant’s repatriation was indicative of the likelihood of similar changes in the bureaucracy in the two other states where the BJP came to power earlier this month — Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

According to sources, senior bureaucrats on central deputation who had “proven their merit” would be repatriated to their respective states to take over as chief secretaries where, in addition to administration, they would also need to ensure the effective implementation of central welfare schemes with the 2024 Lok Sabha elections around the corner.

The Centre is likely to effect a similar bureaucratic reshuffle in Delhi in the coming days with appointments in “significant posts” in departments under the Delhi Government as well as the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) among others expected to be part of the rejig.

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

In addition, Delhi Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar (1988 batch) and Jammu & Kashmir Chief Secretary Arun Kumar Mehta were scheduled to retire by November-end. While the tenure of the Delhi chief secretary – a matter which reached the Supreme Court – was finally extended by 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 has 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.