Zade to be UT Finance Secretary

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 14

After over eight months, the UT Administration will get a Finance Secretary. The Central Government has approved the appointment of Vijay Namdeorao Zade, a 2002-batch IAS officer of the Punjab cadre, to the post for a period of three years.

The post was lying vacant since September 1, 2020, after Punjab-cadre IAS officer Ajoy Kumar Sinha was relieved of the charge on the completion of his deputation with the UT Administration.

Most of the departments under him were given to Arun Kumar Gupta, Principal Secretary (Home), in addition to his existing departments.

Meanwhile, the three-year deputation of Arun Kumar Gupta, a Haryana-cadre IAS officer of the 1992 batch, and the Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, KK Yadav, a Punjab-cadre IAS officer of the 2003 batch, with the Administration will end this month.

The Haryana Government had earlier sent a panel of three IAS officers to succeed Gupta. The panel included the names of Nitin Kumar Yadav (2000 batch), Ravi Pankaj Agarwal (2000 batch) and Vinay Singh (2003 batch).

Meanwhile, the Punjab Government had sent a panel of three IAS officers — Anindita Mitra, Amit Kumar and Rajiv Prashar — to succeed Yadav as the MC Commissioner.

As the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is yet to finalise the names for the posts of Home Secretary and the MC Commissioner, UT Administrator VP Singh Badnore had sought three-month extension in service for both officers amid the continuous rise in number of Covid-19 cases.

UT Adviser Manoj Parida said extension in service was sought for both officers as it would not be the right decision to replace the officers in the present Covid circumstances. He, however, said they were yet to receive approval in this regard from the Centre.

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