Babus keen on Central posting, state faces IAS officers’ shortage

Pratibha Chauhan

Tribune News Service

Shimla, April 20

The state is facing acute shortage of IAS officers with several of them keen on proceeding on a Central deputation.

Not only this, those on Central deputation are hardly interested in returning. The situation has become even more serious with Chief Secretary P Mitra being on a three-week medical leave and the charge has been given to Vineet Chawdhry, Additional Chief Secretary (Health and Urban Development).

Ajay Mittal, Additional Chief Secretary (Transport) has sought permission from the state government to apply for the post of the head of the Competitive Commission of India. In case he gets selected, he will quit even though he still has a few more years of service.

The requests of three Additional Chief Secretary (ACS)-rank officers, Vineet Chawdhry, Upma Chawdhry and Tarun Sridhar, asking to proceed on a Central deputation are already pending with the state government. Others who have applied include Srikant Baldi, Principal Secretary (Finance); Maneesh Garg, Secretary (Finance); Pushpinder Rajput and Priyanka Basu Ingty.

Two officers who are expected to return by the middle of this year are Arvind Mehta and Anuradha Thakur, who after a three-year stint with the World Bank was on one year leave.

Himachal has a total sanctioned strength of 147 IAS officers and presently only 105 officers are holding various posts in the state.

This leaves a shortfall of 42 as 23 officers are currently on Central deputation.

The shortage of IAS officers has left the state government with little choice whether it concerns appointing Deputy Commissioners in districts or giving the charge of important portfolios in the secretariat. Senior ACS-rank officers including Vineet and Upma Chawdhry and Tarun Sridhar are looking after several important departments and that too the very important ones which require a full-time job.

In fact, Chief Secretary P Mitra has been looking after Home and Vigilance as there were very few senior IAS officers to be given this responsibility. Sushil Negi, Principal Secretary (Power and Personnel), will be retiring later this year, thus necessitating the need for senior IAS officers.

The state government’s proposal to appoint IPS and Indian Forest Service (IFS) officers has not gone down too well with the IAS and now there was hardly anyone of those holding IAS posts.

Though Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh has categorically said nobody would be allowed to proceed on a Central deputation in view of shortage of IAS officers, Mittal had been given permission to apply for the post of head of Competitive Commission of India.

Similarly, Maneesh Garg has also been allowed to proceed on deputation. In fact, there are several IAS officers who are keen to move out of the state and serve at the Centre, but considering that there is already a big shortfall, they have not applied.