Khullar retains major departments, other officers 'empowered'

Rajesh Khullar, Chief Principal Secretary (CPS) to CM, will continue to wield influence in the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO), with the retired bureaucrat retaining major departments during re-allocation, though he would hold charge of fewer departments.

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Arun Kumar Gupta, Principal Secretary to CM (PSCM), Saket Kumar, Additional PSCM, and Yash Pal, Deputy PSCM, have been ‘empowered’ as they would hold the charge of more departments.

Khullar will continue to hold the key departments of energy, finance, administration of justice, excise and taxation, general administration, personnel and training, hospitality, vigilance, health, home, industries and commerce, information, public relations, languages and culture, irrigation and water resources, medical education and research, parliamentary affairs, law and legislative, public health engineering, revenue and disaster management, town and country planning and Raj Bhawan affairs.

Besides being the overall incharge of the CMO, Khullar will also look after all matters relating to legislative business, including legislative proposals taken before the Council of Ministers, besides the subjects not allotted to any other officer.

Gupta has gained a couple of more departments, taking the departments under his wings to 11 from the earlier nine. He will hold civil aviation, cooperation, environment, forests and wildlife, food, civil supplies and consumer affairs, mines and geology, transport, urban local bodies, public works (building and roads) departments, besides works related to the implementation of CM's announcements.

Saket Kumar has been allocated agriculture, animal husbandry and dairying, development panchayats, foreign cooperation, sainik and ardh sainik welfare, women and child development and 'housing for all'. He will also monitor Budget announcements, incomplete projects and the performance of various departments under CM Window.

Architecture, heritage and tourism, higher education, school education, sports and public health engineering will be important departments under Yash Pal, while Raj Nehru, OSD to CM, will look after the newly created departments of future, higher education, youth empowerment and entrepreneurship.

Vivek Kalia, also OSD to CM, will look after CM Window (1) and Jan Samvaad.

Sudhanshu Gautam, OSD to CM, will continue to look after the allotment of houses, CM's announcements, CM Relief Fund, Haryana Rural Development Fund sanctions and the online transfer policy.

Rakesh Sandhu, another OSD to CM, has been assigned the work of CM Window (2) and grievances.

Overall incharge

• Rajesh Khullar to hold 16 department, overall incharge of CMO

• Arun Gupta heads 11 departments, Saket Kumar nine and Yash Pal seven

• Newly created Department of Future goes to Raj Nehru

• CM announcements, allotment of government houses remains with Sudhanshu Gautam