Race hots up for Chief Secy even as state mulls extension for Rastogi

A new potboiler is in the offing in the Haryana bureaucracy with at least four 1990-batch officers vying for the post of Chief Secretary as incumbent Anurag Rastogi retires on June 30. However, the Nayab Singh Saini government, mulling extension for the incumbent, may play spoilsport for these officers.

While the race for the top post has got hot, there are already reports of Rastogi getting a six-month extension as per the All-India Service (death-cum-retirement benefits) Rules, 1958, with the prior approval of the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) of the Union Government.

Rastogi’s batchmates and 1990 batch officers — Sudhir Rajpal, Sumita Misra, Anand Sharaj and Raja Shekhar Vundru — are considered to be in the race for the top post. Since seniority is not strictly followed for the appointment of the Chief Secretary, the 1991 batch officers—Vineet Garg, Anil Malik, G Anupama, AK Singh and Abhilaksh Likhi — may also be in the reckoning.

In fact, Rastogi was appointed Chief Secretary in February after the then incumbent Chief Secretary was appointed Election Commissioner in February with the BJP government ignoring the seniority principle.

Rastogi is at No. 3 in the gradation list after Rajpal and Misra. However, “seniority-related issues” among 1990 batch IAS officers led the BJP government to pick Rastogi to the head the state bureaucracy as the Chief Secretary.

In neighbouring Himachal Pradesh, Rastogi’s batchmate and Himachal Pradesh Chief Secretary Prabodh Saxena was granted a six-month extension in service by the ACC of the central government in March.

Similarly, Odisha Chief Secretary Manoj Ahuja (1990), who was to retire in December 2024, was given one-year extension in service by the central government from January 1 on the recommendation of the state government.

Interestingly, Chief Secretary of UP DS Mishra enjoyed unprecedented three extensions in service spanning 2.5 years before retiring on June 30 last year.

Haryana Tribune