*Sharma to get AS post till empanelment
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, May 8: The Central Government today cleared deputation of former Chief Secretary and presently Advisor to Government (Administrative Affairs) BR Sharma to the Centre for his posting as Additional Secretary. The Centre also cleared deputation of two more IAS officers from Jammu and Kashmir.
Sharma, a 1984 batch IAS officer of Jammu and Kashmir cadre, was unceremoniously removed from the post of the Chief Secretary on April 29 and replaced by another senior IAS officer BB Vyas. Sharma, a son of the soil, was posted as Advisor (Administrative Affairs) to Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti.
Union Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), Incharge DoPT (Department of Personnel and Trainings) told the Excelsior that decks have been cleared for Central deputation of BR Sharma after receipt of No Objection Certificate (NOC) and cadre clearance from the State Government, which were pre-requisite for the Central deputation.
“Sharma will now get a new posting as Additional Secretary to Government of India in the next few days,” Dr Jitendra Singh said.
He added that high-level Central committee on empanelment of IAS officers met in New Delhi on Friday but Sharma couldn’t make it to the empanelment as Secretary. Now, pending his elevation as Secretary, Sharma will be posted as Additional Secretary in the Government of India.
The Empanelment Committee will meet again in the next couple of months and whenever BR Sharma is empanelled as Secretary, he would get a new posting.
Sources pointed out that there are only 62 officers in the Government of India in the rank of Secretary. Very few officers from Jammu and Kashmir had made it to the rank of the Secretary including Anil Goswami, Madhav Lal etc.
Sharma has his services till 2020.
Sharma was appointed as the Chief Secretary by PDP-BJP coalition Government headed by late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed on September 7, 2015.
The DoPT has also cleared the Central deputation of two more IAS officers including Simrandeep Singh, former Deputy Commissioner Jammu and his wife Sushma Chouhan. Both of them were likely to be posted in Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy at Mussoorie.
Dr Jitendra Singh will visit the National Academy on May 12.
Simrandeep Singh was recently transferred as DC Jammu and posted as Commissioner, Jammu Municipal Corporation. However, the Government today modified his transfer order and asked him to wait for further posting in the General Administration Department (GAD).
Senior IAS officer and former Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Shantmanu had only last week proceeded on Central deputation, where he has already been given new posting as Development Commissioner (Handicrafts) in the Union Ministry of Textiles.
Sources pointed out that some more senior IAS officers in Jammu and Kashmir have also sought the Central deputation. Their requests were pending with the DoPT.
The State Government had earlier insisted that the IAS officers from Jammu and Kashmir shouldn’t be moved out-either for Central deputation or for other States even if they insisted unless the State Government duly cleared their deputation.
However, according to sources, majority of senior officers from Jammu and Kashmir cadre and presently on deputation with the Centre and some other States have expressed their reluctance to return to the State, at least for the time being. Even those, who have completed their period of Central deputation, were trying to get their deputation extended further.
Several IAS officers of Jammu and Kashmir cadre are presently on deputation with the Centre or some other States.
They included Suresh Kumar, Additional Secretary, Union Ministry of Coal, Sudhanshu Panday, Joint Secretary, Department of Commerce, Arun Kumar Mehta, Joint Secretary, Union Ministry of Environment and Forests and Climate Change, Atal Dulloo, Joint Secretary in the Department of Rural Development, MK Dwivedi, Joint Secretary in Union Ministry of Commerce, Mandeep Kour, Department of Revenue, Government of India and Pandurang Kondbarao Pole, who is on inter-cadre deputation to Maharashtra.
Two senior IAS officers-KB Aggarwal and Umang Narula have recently returned to Jammu and Kashmir from Central deputation. While Aggarwal has been posted as Principal Secretary (Coordination) in the office of Resident Commissioner, New Delhi, Narula was posted as Principal Secretary to Governor.
Jammu and Kashmir has 106 sanctioned vacancies of IAS officers. Of them, minimum 20 per cent and maximum 30 per cent can proceed on Central deputation at a given time, which means a minimum of 21 and a maximum of 31 IAS officers can be on Central deputation from Jammu and Kashmir.
Moreover out of 106, nearly 40 officers are conferred IAS, who generally don’t proceed on deputation.
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