A race is on to occupy a berth in the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) because Principal Secretary to Chief Minister DK Kotia is going to retire by March 31 and to occupy the post of Forest and Rural Development Commissioner (FRDC) because Vinita Kumar is going to retire by April 30. Since relieving of senior IAS officer Ajay Joshi, who was relieved for Uttar Pradesh by Uttarakhand Government, a post for Chief Secretary rank officer was created and to occupy the seat of SK Mattoo, who is also going to retire by July 31, bureaucrats have begun lobbying as well. Now, the ball is in Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna’s court.
FRDC Vinita Kumar, who is currently senior most IAS officer after Chief Secretary Alok Kumar Jain, may be elevated for the post of Chief Secretary because since relieving of Ajay Kumar Joshi, the post is lying vacant. At present, four IAS officers are in the pay band of `80,000, which was decided by Sixth Pay Commission, so Vinita Kumar can fill the post vacated by Ajay Joshi. Sources have confirmed that she would be promoted as Additional Chief secretary and will continue the post of FRDC for remaining period.
In 2010, Joshi had lost race for the chief secretary with Subhash Kumar then he had appealed to the State Government to relieve him for UP cadre and following on his request, the State relieved him. Vinita Kumar is going to retire by April 30; so The race to occupy the post of FRDC has also begun.
If we go by the seniority list, then Principal Secretary Industry Rakesh Sharma, who is senior most after Vinita Kumar, may be accommodated as next FRDC. There is a trend that whosoever appointed as FRDC have got a chance to serve the senior most office of IAS.
Since inception of Uttarakhand, the State has witnessed nine chief secretaries, including Ajay Vikram Singh, who was made chief secretary during inception of separate state from Uttar Pradesh in November 9, 2000. It means eight out of nine chief secretaries were made through promotion by the State Government, in which four out of eight were promoted as Chief Secretary of the State from FRDC. Madhukar Gupta, M Ramchandran, Indu Kumar Pande and Alok Kumar Jain were promoted as Chief Secretary bypassing FRDC post. Although RS Tolia, SK Das, NS Napalchayal and Subhash Kumar promoted as chief secretary from the post of FRDC.
DK Kotia who was supposed to retire by September 30, 2012 but Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna had given him extension twice for three months each, is going to retire by March 31 so bureaucrats are busy in lobbying. Meanwhile Principal Secretary to CM SS Sandhu, who was running on second position due to DK Kotia, will automatically become senior most bureaucrat of CMO.
Sources said that previous government had overlooked the seniority and made chief secretary junior officer so other junior IAS officers are also in the race but one thing clear that this decision will decide the line and length of the state bureaucracy.
There is rule that no senior IAS officer will work under their junior; so the State Government sends the officer outside the secretariat to avoid any such ambiguous situation. For instance Subhash Kumar was elevated as chief secretary then two senior IAS officers Ajay Joshi and SK Mattoo were sent outside secretariat. later when Alok Kumar Jain was elevated as chief secretary then three IAS officers namely Subhash Kumar, Ajay Joshi and SK Matoo were sent outside secretariat because of their seniority.
As per the norms Directorate of Personal Training (DoPT) has allocated two post of chief secretary rank and state can appoint two more chief secretary rank but latter two post will be considered as ex-cadre post. In this perspective, the State is having four chief secretary rank officers.