SAD in charge, babudom gears up for reshuffle

With the SAD-BJP combine winning the 2007 Assembly elections

With the SAD-BJP combine winning the 2007 Assembly elections, the bureaucracy is all set for a change of guard with Ramesh Inder Singh tipped to take over as the Chief Secretary in place of present CS Kura Ram Lakhanpal.

Sources said R I Singh, an IAS officer of the 1974 batch, was the Principal Secretary when Parkash Singh Badal was the Chief Minister from 1997 to 2002. He went on deputation to the Centre when the Congress came to power and is presently Director General of the ESI Corporation. Sources in the SAD said his name is in the reckoning for the CS’s post. But Singh, who was today in Chandigarh to attend a function of ESI, refused to comment on the matter. The other contender for CS is Tejinder Kaur of the 1973 batch, who is posted as Principal Secretary (Food and Supply). If elevated to the post of CS, R I Singh will supercede 11 officers.

The other hot post that has a long lineup of contenders is that of Principal Secretary to the CM. There are five officers whose names are doing the rounds. They include D S Guru of the 1980 batch, at present the Principal Secretary (Health). He was Director of Industries during the Badal government.

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Others in the race include D S Bains of the 1981 batch. He was Sukhbir Singh Badal’s private secretary when he was a minister in the NDA Government. Sudhir Mittal of the 1978 batch, at present Secretary (Environment) in the Union government, and Arun Goel of the 1985 batch, at present Secretary of Expenditure, are also in contention.

N P S Aulakh of the 1972 IPS batch, at present on deputation with the Union government as special DGP BSF at Chandigarh, is a strong contender for the top post in the state police. He was the IG (Headquarters) in the last Badal government. The other contender is DGP (Home Guards) K K Attri, of the 1971 batch. The buzz is that if not made DGP, Attri might be posted as the DGP-cum-Chief Director (Vigilance).

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