IAS officers from state eye ‘comfortable’ postings in UT

December.

Those who have shown willingness to join include Punjab Infrastructure Development Board MD Anurag Aggarwal (1990 batch),Punjab excise and taxation commissioner Anurag Verma (1993),Secretary of Home and Revenue Sarvjit Singh (1992) and his batchmate Jaspal Singh,S R Ladhar (1991),Raj Kamal Chaudhary (1996),V K Meena (1997),Seema Jain (1991) and Hussan Lal (1995).

Both posts of PIDB MD and the excise and taxation commissioner are among the top two posts in Punjab.

Since the posting as UT finance secretary is an inter-state deputation and not a Central government posting,the number of officers willing to rush to work for Chandigarh administration is surprising.

The reason given by some is the manner in which the political leadership treats them. But those considered close to Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal are unhappy as the bureaucratic heads are “biased” in favor of two to three officers and make it difficult for them to work.

This is not all. There are others who are aspiring to get out of the state. Punjab has recommended names of Kumar Rahul — currently Sangrur deputy commissioner,DC Patiala G K Singh and V K Meena,Special Secretary (B&R) — for the post of the general manager of the Food Corporation of India.

Another set of officers has been recommended for the post of the managing director of Chandigarh Industrial and Tourism Development Corporation — also based in Chandigarh. These include 1999 batch officer Harbhupinder Singh Nanda,Arunjit Singh Miglani (2000) and Kavita M Singh (2004). Kavita’s name was also one of three names recommended for the post of UT secretary. She was rejected by Centre’s Department of Personnel and Training on the ground that her name was under consideration for the post of the CITCO MD. The panel,thus,gave only two options to choose from.

Now,the DoPT has asked the Punjab government to send a fresh panel,for which the state personnel department has been asked to provide a list of willing officers.