Punjab sends panel for Finance Secy’s post

Ramkrishan Upadhyay 

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 11

After a delay of over a month and several reminders from the UT, the Punjab Government has finally sent a panel of officers for the  post of Finance Secretary  to the Administration.    

 The three-year tenure of Finance Secretary Sarvjit Singh is ending  this month. Sources said the three officers whose names had been sent were Vikas Partap, Gurkirat Kripal  Singh and Arvinder Singh Bains. 

 In the panel, Vikas Pratap is the seniormost IAS officer of the 1994 batch while Gurkirat and Bains  belong to the 2001 batch.

Vikas Partap is at present working as the Secretary, Medical Education and Research, besides holding the additional charge of the Managing Director, PUNCOM.

Gurkirat Kirpal Singh is holding the charge of the Managing Director, MARKFED.  

Sarvjit Singh, a Punjab cadre IAS officer of the 1992  batch, took over as the UT Finance Secretary in 2014  for three years. While  his term is  ending this  month, it is unlikely  that the  name of the  new Finance Secretary  will be cleared before that. The selection process usually takes two months.

As per the practice, the Administration recommends one name from the panel of officers for appointment to the Home Ministry. However, the final appointment takes place after approval from the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet. The Administration is facing a shortage of senior IAS officers as the Home Ministry has not sent a replacement for K Narsimha after his transfer. 

The Administration is also waiting for a replacement  for  Addapa Karthik and Bhavna Garg, who left after the completion of their tenure.