Govt grants rare 1-year extension to home secy
In a first, the Narendra Modi government on Thursday granted a one-year extension to Union home secretary Ajay Bhalla whose tenure was to finish next week. The home secretary has a fixed twoyear tenure irrespective of his date of retirement. However, Mr Bhalla’s one-year extension will be in addition to his twoyear fixed tenure.
Mr Bhalla is a senior IAS officer of the 1984batch of the AssamMeghalaya cadre. He was appointed Union home secretary in August 2019 and his present tenure was due to come to an end on August 22. Mr Bhalla had succeeded the present Cabinet Secretary, Rajiv Gauba.
The order issued on Thursday by the department of personnel and training (DoPT) states: “The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved extension in service to Mr Bhalla as home secretary, ministry of home affairs, for a period of one year beyond the present tenure i.e. 22.08.2021.”
Initially, Mr Bhalla was due to retire in November last year following completion of 60 years of superannuation. But since the Union home secretary has a fixed two-year tenure, it was supposed to finish on August 22. But following Thursday’s extension it will now come to an end in August 2022.
Sources said one of the key reasons for giving an extension to the home secretary was that he has been involved in a number of crucial issues ranging from the abrogation of Article 370 to Covid-19 pandemic management to the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya.
Mr Bhalla has also been involved in some very crucial decisions of the Modi government, which include the Citizenship Amendment Act, setting up of the Ram Mandir Trust and the National Population Register, in addition to developments in Kashmir.