6 of 11 IAS officers in UT from AGMUT cadre

Nitin Jain

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 28

The strength of Arunachal Pradesh, Goa and Mizoram Union Territories (AGMUT)-cadre IAS officers has touched a new high, while the share of Punjab and Haryana in the present administrative set-up in the joint capital Chandigarh remains the same.

Of the 11 IAS officers serving in the UT Administration at present, six are of the AGMUT cadre, while three are from Punjab and only two from Haryana. Besides, two more IAS officers of the AGMUT cadre were recently posted in Chandigarh and are likely to join here shortly. With this, eight of the 13 IAS officers in the UT Administration will be of the AGMUT cadre, probably the highest ever.

However, the sanctioned strength of AGMUT-cadre posts in Chandigarh is only two. Moreover, as per the instructions issued by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on November 

Continued on page 4 4, 1996, in accordance with the Punjab Re-organisation Act, 1966, the ratio of 60:40 is to be maintained between Punjab and Haryana for filling posts in the UT.

While Parimal Rai, a 1985-batch AGMUT-cadre IAS officer, is posted as the UT Adviser, which is a sanctioned post for the AGMUT cadre, the second sanctioned post for the AGMUT cadre in Chandigarh is that of Chairman, Chandigarh Housing Board, which is lying vacant after the transfer of Maninder Singh recently. This charge has been assigned to the Finance Secretary as a stopgap arrangement.

The posts of Finance Secretary and MC Commissioner are reserved for Punjab-cadre IAS officers and those of Home Secretary and Deputy Commissioner for Haryana-cadre IAS officers. While other coveted posts of Additional Deputy Commissioner, SDMs and CITCO Managing Director also used to be held mostly by Punjab and Haryana-cadre officers, at present AGMUT-cadre IAS officers are posted on these positions.

Other IAS officers of the AGMUT cadre serving in the UT Administration are Bansi Lal Sharma (2004 batch), Jitender Yadav (2010 batch), Sachin Rana (2014 batch), Saurabh Mishra (2015 batch) and Arjun Sharma (2015 batch).

Finance Secretary Ajoy Kumar Sinha (1996 batch), MC Commissioner Kamal Kishore Yadav (2003 batch) and Special Secretary, Finance, Harish Nayar (2010 batch) are the three IAS officers from Punjab posted in Chandigarh, while Home Secretary Arun Kumar Gupta (1994 batch) and Deputy Commissioner Ajit Balaji Joshi (2003 batch) are the two IAS officers from Haryana serving in the UT.

Two more AGMUT-cadre IAS officers — Ajay Kumar Singhla of the 2005 batch and Sanjay Kumar Jha of the 2008 batch — were recently posted in Chandigarh but are yet to join duty here. Punjab, Haryana have repeatedly taken up issue with Centre

Punjab and Haryana have been repeatedly impressing upon the Centre to give more share to their officers in the Chandigarh Administration. Successive Chief Ministers of both states have time and again taken up the matter with successive Prime Ministers and Home Ministers. Former Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had repeatedly written to both the Prime Minister and the Home Minister, seeking effective measures to restore the norms of the deputation policy under which Badal had claimed that all posts in the Chandigarh Administration were to be filled through deputation from Punjab and Haryana in the ratio of 60:40. “A lot of erosion has taken place to dilute the role of Punjab in the Chandigarh Administration and even the distribution of departments was to be such so as to reflect the 60:40 ratio — 60 per cent departments to be handled by officers of the Punjab cadre and 40 per cent by Haryana-cadre officers,” Badal had written in his demi-official letters to the Prime Minister and the Home Minister.

AGMUT-cadre IAS officers

• Adviser Parimal Rai
• Education Secy Bansi Lal Sharma
• Sports Secy Jitender Yadav
• Additional DC Sachin Rana
• SDM (South) Saurabh Mishra
• SDM (East) Arjun Sharma

Yet to join

• Ajay Kumar Singhla
• Sanjay Kumar Jha

Punjab

1. Finance Secy Ajoy Kumar Sinha
2. MC Commissioner KK Yadav
3. Special Secy (Finance) Harish Nayar

Haryana 

• Home Secy Arun Kumar Gupta
• DC Ajit Balaji Joshi

The background

At the time of the formation of Chandigarh on November 1, 1966, a Punjab-cadre ICS officer, Dr MS Randhawa, was posted as its first Chief Commissioner. Later, most of the eight other Chief Commissioners till 1984 and thereafter all Advisers, to which the Chief Commissioner’s post was converted on June 3, 1984, were AGMUT-cadre officers. Initially, the Adviser’s post was an ex-cadre post, which was converted into a cadre post.