- Shortage of officers leads to problem
- 20 officials on deputation to Centre, Ladakh
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, July 6: Twelve IAS officers in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir have been holding multiple charges of departments mainly because of shortage of IAS officers as a number of officers have proceeded on Central deputation while few others have been deputed to the UT of Ladakh, a division of J&K till August 5, 2019.
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Though the Government of India has deputed many IAS officers of AGMUT and other cadres to Jammu and Kashmir, the shortage still persists but is expected to be overcome with deployment of more officers of the All India Services.
Only today, the Government assigned additional charges to two IAS and IFS officers.
Shaleen Kabra, a senior IAS officer posted as Financial Commissioner (Additional Chief Secretary) Jal Shakti Department (PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control) has been holding additional charge of the Financial Commissioner Revenue.
PK Pole, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), another senior IAS officer, is also holding additional charge of the Commissioner/Secretary to Government Election Department.
Yasha Mudgal, Commissioner/ Secretary Tourism Department, has been assigned additional charge of Mission Director Holistic Agriculture Development Programme (HADP) by the Jammu and Kashmir Government.
Kumar Rajeev Ranjan, Administrative Secretary, Labour and Employment Department is holding additional charge of three departments including Administration Secretary Skill Development Department, Revenue Department and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mission Youth.
Bhupinder Kumar, Administration Secretary, Public Works (R&B), too has additional charge of Director Census Operations (DCO)/Director of Citizen Registration (DCR) for the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
Divisional Commis sioner Jammu Ramesh Kumar holds additional charge of Additional CEO Jammu Metropolitan Regional Development Authority.
Mohammad Aijaz, Administrative Secretary, Planning Development and Monitoring Department, who has already been holding additional charge of Administrative Secretary Civil Aviation Department and Civil Aviation Commissioner, was also assigned additional charge of Administrative Secretary, Public Grievances Department and CEO ERA by the Government today relieving Syed Sehrish Asgar, who shall report to the General Administration Department (GAD) till further orders.
Suresh Kumar Gupta, an IFS officer and Principal Secretary to Government, Culture Department, was today assigned additional charge of the post of Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and HoFF, Chairman, J&K Biodiversity Council and Director Social Forestry.
Another IAS officer Vikas Kundal, MD Jammu Power Distribution Corporation Limited too has been holding additional charge of Jammu and Kashmir Power Corporation Limited.
Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) Commissioner Rahul Yadav has been holding additional charge of the post of CEO Special Purpose Vehicle Jammu City for Implementation of Smart City Project while Owais Ahmed, Commissioner Srinagar Municipal Corporation holds additional charge of CEO SPV for Srinagar City for implementation of Smarty City Project and Vice Chairman Srinagar Development Authority.
Jatin Kishore, Additional Secretary in the Lieutenant Governor’s Secretariat is holding additional charge of the post of Director Information Department Jammu and Kashmir.
As many as 20 officers of erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir cadre are presently on deputation to Centre and the UT of Ladakh.
However, the deputation of the officers to the Centre is almost within the norms. As Ladakh was part of Jammu and Kashmir till August 5, 2019 when it became the UT, many officers from Jammu and Kashmir including IAS and IPS besides JKAS, JKPS and others have been posted there. Some officers of the All India Services have also been posted to Ladakh by the Centre.
The officers on Central deputation include Umang Narula, Secretary Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, RK Goyal, Secretary Border Management MHA, Shantmanu, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Navin Choudhary, Principal Secretary I&FC, Government of Delhi, Rohit Kansal, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, Manoj Kumar Dwivedi, Additional Secretary, Department of Personnel and Training, Hridesh Kumar, Deputy Chief Election Commissioner, Sarita Chauhan, Joint Secretary, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, AK Sahu, Joint Secretary, Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, M Raju, Commissioner/ Secretary Agriculture & Animal Husbandary Puducherry, Saugat Biswas, Commissioner Industries, Trade & Commerce Arunachal Pradesh, Simrandeep Singh, Department of Economic Affairs, Sushma Chauhan, Deputy Secretary MHA, Shah Faesal, Deputy Secretary, Ministry of Culture, Ravinder Kumar, Deputy Secretary GoI Drinking Water & Sanitation, Dr Piyush Singla and Avny Lavasa (study leave abroad) and Doifode Sagar Dattatrai, Secretary Forest, Environment & Wildlife Dadra and Nagar Haveli & Daman & Diu.
Senior IAS officers of erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir cadre, who are on deputation to Ladakh include Dr Pawan Kotwal, Advisor to the Lieutenant Governor and Amit Sharma.
At the same time, the Central Government has deputed a number of officers of All India Services including IAS and IPS to Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh from AGMUT and other cadres to overcome shortage of the officers.
Officials said once shortage of IAS and other officers is over after deployment of more officers, the problem of granting additional charges to the officers will end.
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