Two top Chandigarh posts fall vacant

Chandigarh, June 19

With the relieving of UT Finance Secretary Namdeorao Zade, a Punjab cadre IAS officer, two senior posts in the Chandigarh Administration have fallen vacant. Another senior officer, UT Home Secretary Nitin Kumar Yadav, a Haryana cadre IAS office, was relieved on June 14 to enable him to join his new assignment with the Government of India.

The key departments held by the Home Secretary and the Finance Secretary have now been assigned to other IAS officers for the time being.

UT Adviser Rajeev Verma will now look after the charge of Home and police/prisons.

Municipal Commissioner Anindita Mitra has been assigned the charge of Secretary, Water Resources; Secretary, Estate/Housing, Secretary, Urban Planning; and Chief Administrator.

Similarly, UT Health Secretary Ajay Chagti will look after the charge of Secretary, Local Government and Urban Development; and Chairman, CITCO. Deputy Commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh will also have Secretary, Transport; Secretary, Labour and Employment; and Secretary, Revenue.

The Punjab Government has recently sent a panel of three IAS officers to the UT Administration for the post of Finance Secretary. Punjab cadre IAS officers Amit Dhaka (batch 2006), Amit Kumar (2008) and Mohammed Tayyab (2007) are in the race for the post.

The tenure of incumbent Finance Secretary Vijay Namdeorao Zade ended today. Zade had joined the UT Administration in May 2021 and his tenure ended in May this year. He was given one-month extension in view of the Lok Sabha elections as he was the Chief Electoral Officer for Chandigarh. However, the UT Administration is yet to receive a panel of names from the Haryana Government for the post of Home Secretary. The three-year deputation period of Municipal Commissioner Anindita Mitra will end in August and that of Deputy Commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh in October this year.

With two top posts lying vacant, the process of selection of Finance Secretary and Home Secretary has been started. It will take months to fill the two posts. Last time, the UT Adviser’s post had remained vacant for a few months.

The wait for the filling of the post of Chairman, Right to Service Commission, and that of Chandigarh Housing Board seems endless. Also, there is no Police Complaint Authority for the past more than four years.

In case of officers coming from two states of Haryana and Punjab, the process is very lengthy — a panel is decided, officers are scrutinised by the Administration and then the Administrator recommends a name to the Ministry Home Affairs (MHA), which processes the request and appointment committee of cabinet approves the name. Many times, joining got delayed or the officer concerned refused to take the post. In the meantime ad hoc arrangements are made and work suffers.