Himachal govt recalls 6 IAS officers from Centre citing staff shortage

Facing an acute shortage of Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers, the Jai Ram Thakur-led government has written to the department of personnel and training (DoPT) seeking repatriation of a half a dozen officers of the state’s cadre who are on central deputation, a senior official said on Friday.

“There is shortage of IAS officers. We have made a request to the central government. Certainly the work is getting affected,” said chief secretary Vineet Chawdhry.

Himachal has a total cadre strength of 147 officers and as many as 32 of them are on different deputations with the Centre.

An official said the government was forced to write to the Centre as the DoPT had enhanced the tenure of central deputation to seven years.

The previous government, led by Virbhadra Singh, had also faced the same problem and had written to the Centre and several states for asking for IAS officers.

Of the remaining cadre strength, around 15 officials have been posted as sub-divisional magistrates in different subdivisions.

The DoPT is yet to approve the state’s request to enhance its cadre strength from 147 to 155.

The six recalled IAS officials include Manoj Kumar who is currently posted as the chief vigilance officer with the Delhi development authority, Kondru Sanjay Murthy who is posted as a joint secretary in the information and broadcasting ministry, Kamlesh Kumar Pant who is posted as the chief vigilance officer with National Highway Authority of India, Rajneesh who is posted as a joint secretary for commerce and industries and who was private secretary to the President Pranab Mukherjee, Subhasheesh Panda who is currently posted as a director for the food and public distribution department, and Amitabh Awasthi who is posted as deputy director (administration) PGIMER, Chandigarh.

However, it has been learnt from officials familiar with the matter that the majority of officers on central deputation are not willing to return leaving their assignments midway.

The crunch means that several officials in the secretariat are holding down charge of multiple departments.

Additional chief secretary Tarun Kapoor has three departments, additional chief secretary Anil Khachi has charge of the public works department (PWD) and is also the financial commissioner (Appeals). He is also the chairman of the Himachal Pradesh Sales Tax Tribunal at Dharamshala, besides being the principal resident commissioner, New Delhi.

Principal secretary RD Dhiman has charge of the power, personnel and cooperation department.

The chief minister’s principal secretary, additional chief secretary (ACS) Manisha Nanda, has charge of the environment, science and technology, information and public relations, tourism and civil aviation departments. Nanda is also the chairperson of the state pollution control board.

SHIMLA: HIMACHAL HAS A TOTAL CADRE STRENGTH OF 147 OFFICERS AND AS MANY AS 32 OF THEM ARE ON DEPUTATION WITH THE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT