Dilip Cherian | Curious moves led to choice of Himachal’s new chief secy

Himachal Pradesh, which is going to the polls shortly, has got a new chief secretary. Ram Dass Dhiman, a 1988-batch IAS officer, got the coveted post after the incumbent Ram Subhag Singh surprised many by quitting and applying for another sought-after post of state chief information commissioner. But apparently, for insiders and those in the know, Mr Singh had started showing interest in vying for the new post almost a year ago giving ample time to chief minister Jai Ram Thakur to find his replacement. Since Subhag had become the chief secretary in August last year, it is apparent that he began planning his move almost immediately after taking over as chief secretary!

Meanwhile, the search for his successor has been a convoluted one. Mr Dhiman has been chosen over three IAS officers including, interestingly, Subhag’s wife Nisha Singh! The other superseded officers are Ali Raza Rizvi and Sanjay Gupta. The supercession is awkward especially given the superb track record of those overlooked.

In the wake of Mr Dhiman’s appointment, Nisha Singh has now been named as the principal adviser (training) while Sanjay Gupta has been appointed as the principal adviser (redressal of public grievances). Subhag has still a year of service remaining and will bide his time as the principal adviser (administrative reforms) while he waits for his wish to become the state’s new chief information commissioner to fructify.

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Promotions spark off IPS row in Haryana

The promotion of several IPS officers in Haryana has triggered a row over the “legal aspects” of the order.

DKB has learnt that a DIG-level IPS officer Hamid Akhtar, who is among those who have been promoted, has asked the state government to modify his promotion order and give it effect nearly six months prior to the order’s issuance date. He reportedly sent a representation to the ADGP Crime Branch O.P. Singh two weeks ago requesting him to raise the issue with the state director general of police (DGP) P.K. Agrawal, who is the final authority on the matter.

Those in the know say that Mr Akhtar’s request is not without precedent. Apparently, it is similar to the request of a few other IPS officers who were promoted in 2015, 2017 and 2018 with “immediate effect” while other IPS officers were promoted with “retrospective effect”. Mr Akhtar was promoted to DIG with effect from May 26 this year, but according to him, he should have been promoted with effect from January 1 this year.

Watch this space for updates.

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Quiet change of guard at Niti Aayog

It’s more than a second coming for Parmeshwar Iyer, the former IAS officer who has quietly taken charge as the new CEO of Niti Aayog, the government’s premier public policy think tank. He has replaced Amitabh Kant who completed his extended tenure last month and has now moved on to steer the G20 deliberations as India’s sherpa.

Mr Iyer, many will recall, is a former IAS officer who has over 25 years of experience in the water and sanitation sector in both the public and private sectors. The 1981-batch officer from the Uttar Pradesh cadre served as secretary in the department of drinking water and sanitation and also worked as a water and sanitation specialist for the World Bank after retiring from the IAS in 2009. In 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi summoned him out of retirement to spearhead the flagship Swachh Bharat Mission, which successfully delivered access to safe sanitation to 550 million people.

As CEO of Niti Aayog, Mr Iyer who has rich experience in policymaking will now lead the Aayog’s efforts to catalyze economic development and foster cooperative federalism through the involvement of state governments of India in the economic policy-making process using a bottom-up approach.

Will Mr Iyer’s low-ley approach be as effective as his predecessor’s, who had built a larger-than-life image of the bureaucrat as a celeb thinker? We’ll wait and see.