Presidential notification being issued within days
First officer from J&K on coveted post
Neeraj Rohmetra
Jammu, Dec 9: Union Government has decided to appoint former Chief Secretary, B B Vyas, who is presently working as Advisor to Governor here as member of Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).
Reliable official sources told EXCELSIOR, “Centre has summoned Vyas to New Delhi tomorrow and he shall be communicated about the decision to make him member of UPSC. Besides Vyas, two other persons are being inducted as members of UPSC comprising former Civil Aviation Secretary, Rajeev Nayan Choubey and a renowned academician – Anant Kumar”.
“For the past several months, the Secretariat had been agog with rumours about shifting of Vyas to some Central body in view of the chill surrounding his relationship with present Governor, S P Malik and Chief Secretary, B V R Subrahmanyam. The stage is now set for his appointment as member of UPSC and a Presidential notification regarding appointment of three new members, including Vyas would be issued within few days”, sources asserted.
On November 9, when Governor Satya Pal Malik carried out major reshuffle in portfolios of his Advisors after induction of fourth Advisor KK Sharma, BB Vyas was divested of the prestigious portfolios of General Administration Department, Power Development Department and Finance and another Advisor Khurshid Ahmad Ganai of Public Works (R&B) and PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control.
“Vyas will have a term for nearly next three years, when he attains the age of 65 and it is for the first time that J&K cadre IAS officer will become member of the Constitutional body. The Governor is unlikely to appoint a new Advisor in place of Vyas as the team of Advisors – K Vijay Kumar, Khurshid Ganai and K K Sharma are efficiently handling all the allocated Depar-tments”, sources pointed out.
The induction of three new faces in the UPSC comes days after appointment of senior civil servant, Arvind Saxena as Chairman of the Commission on November 29, this year. Saxena joined the Commission as Member on May 8, 2015 and was later appointed to perform the duties of the UPSC Chairperson this June 20.
The other two members include a renowned academician – Anant Kumar and former Civil Secretary, Rajeev Nayan Coubey – a 1981 batch IAS officer of Tamil Nadu.
It is pertinent to mention here that an IAS officer of 1986 batch, Vyas had been appointed as Advisor to Governor on June 20, this year after the then Governor, N N Vohra appointed Chhattisgarh – cadre 1987 batch IAS officer, B V R Subrahmanyam as new Chief Secretary of the State.
Earlier, the Personnel Ministry had also amended the service rules to provide extension of three months to Vyas, who was due to superannuate in November 2017 on the request of the then Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti and then given another three month extension. Subsequently, he was then given another one-year extension in May 2018.
After his appointment as State Governor on August 23, Satya Pal Malik chose to retain all the three Advisors — B B Vyas, K Vijay Kumar and Khurshid Ganai, who had been appointed by his predecessor – N N Vohra. On November 9, KK Sharma, a resident of Billawar, Kathua and retired IAS officer, who had served as Chief Secretary of New Delhi and Goa had taken charge of the Governor’s fourth Advisor.
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