Delhi Principal Secretary (PWD) Ashwani Kumar will be the Chief Secretary of Puducherry. As part of a bureaucratic reshuffle effected by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Puducherry’s Chief Secretary Manoj Kumar Parida and another senior officer G Narendra Kumar have been transferred to Delhi. Both are yet to be given any charge.
Parida, a 1986-batch IAS officer, and G Narendra Kumar had worked in the Delhi Government when Sheila Dikshit was the CM.
Delhi Services Secretary A Anbarasu was also transferred and posted in the Puducherry Government. The Ministry has asked authorities concerned to relieve all these four officers with immediate effect.Kumar, a 1992-batch IAS officer, and the AAP Government have been at loggerheads on a range of issues including desilting of drains and PWD proposals among others. He was also holding the charge of vigilance secretary in the Delhi Government.
In June, CM Arvind Kejriwal had written to Chief Secretary MM Kutty, asking him to initiate proceedings of “dereliction of duty” against Kumar over desilting of drains. A Delhi Assembly panel had also issued initiated “breach of privilege proceedings” against him, but he later got a stay from the High Court.