NEW DELHI, Sept 5 — Union Defence Secretary T.R. Prasad and Union Finance Secretary P.G. Mankad appear to be in the running for the Cabinet Secretary’s post which falls vacant at the end of next month with the superannuation of Prabhat Kumar.

Mr Kumar and Mr Prasad are both officers of the 1963 batch of the IAS. While Mr Kumar belongs to the Uttar Pradesh cadre, Mr Prasad is from the Andhra Pradesh cadre.

If the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance goes by the criteria of seniority as evidenced in most senior appointments so far, then the mantle should fall on Mr Prasad as the country’s foremost civil servant.

Mr Prasad will, however, have a short tenure of only nine months before he retires on July 31, 2001, if the appointments committee of the Union Cabinet zeroes in on him to succeed Mr Kumar. There are precedents in the government when a Cabinet Secretary is straightaway given an extension and appointed for at least one year if not for two years.

Interestingly, if Mr Prasad is elevated as the top most civil servant in the country then there will be two successive Cabinet Secretaries of the same batch of the IAS.

Authoritative sources acknowledge that it is rare for two successive Cabinet Secretaries to be part of the same batch. If one of Mr Kumar’s successors manages to have a full term of three years or a shade under, then there is every possibility of at least one batch — in this case 1964 — possibly losing out in making a bid for the post of Cabinet Secretary.

At the same time these sources maintain there is no bar on two officers of the same batch being appointed Cabinet Secretary due to unique circumstances. In any case the decision as to who should be the Cabinet Secretary is solely the preserve of the political leadership of the day.

Mr Mankad, who has also held some key posts at the Centre, is from the Madhya Pradesh cadre and belongs to the 1964 cadre of the IAS. In the normal course, Mr Mankad attains the age of superannuation in November 2001, four months later than Mr Prasad.