Ajoy Kumar Sinha is Finance Secy

Ramkrishan Upadhyay

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 28

Ajoy Kumar Sinha, a 1996-batch Punjab IAS officer, has been appointed as the new Finance Secretary of Chandigarh. The Ministry of Home Affairs issued an order today after his name was cleared by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet.

Sources said Sinha had been appointed for three years on inter-cadre deputation from Punjab from the date of his joining.

The MHA also sent the copy of the order to the Punjab Government to relive him immediately to join his new assignment.

The post of the Finance Secretary has been lying vacant for the past seven months after the repatriation of Sarbjit Singh on January 30, 2017. This is the first time that the post of the Finance Secretary remained vacant for such a long time.

VP Singh Badnore, Punjab Governor-cum-UT Administrator, had approved Sinha’s name for appointment to the post among the panel of the four officers sent by the Punjab Government.

The appointment of the Finance Secretary has been delayed for various reasons. The Chandigarh Administration rejected the first panel of IAS officers sent by the Punjab Government for the post of the UT Finance Secretary. Later, the Congress Government withdrew the panel of the Secretary Panel soon after taking over the charge sent by the Akali-BJP government before the elections. In the earlier panel, names of Vikas Pratap, Anurag Verma, and Rahul Tiwari were included.

Harish Nayar’s name also cleared for secy-level post

The Government of India has also appointed Harish Nayar, another IAS officer from Punjab, for the secretary-level post (below super time scale) in the Chandigarh Administration. The MHA has also asked the Punjab Government to relive Nayar immediately to join the Administration for a period of three years. The UT was eagerly waiting for officers from Punjab after the repatriation of Bhavna Garg. Kartik Addappa and Bhavna Garg had left the Administration after the completion of their tenure in July last year. The administration was waiting for their replacement since then. The administration had been facing an acute shortage of the officers at the higher level.

Post was lying vacant for past 7 months

The post of the Finance Secretary has been lying vacant for the past seven months after the repatriation of Sarbjit Singh on January 30, 2017. This is the first time that the post of the Finance Secretary remained vacant for such a long time.