Haryana: TVSN Prasad holding three key posts, EC’s intervention sought

Pradeep Sharma

Chandigarh, March 20

With TVSN Prasad, Additional Chief Secretary (ACS), Revenue and Disaster Management, and Financial Commissioner Revenue (FCR) holding charge of two other sensitive posts of Chief Secretary and ACS, Home, Jails, Criminal Investigation and Administration of Justice Departments, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has been urged to intervene into the matter.

Terming holding of two sensitive posts of Chief Secretary (CS) and ACS (Home) by the same officer as additional charge besides the charge of the FCR as “not wise or appreciable” when the process to hold the Lok Sabha polls is in process, an advocate of the Punjab and Haryana High Court urged the ECI to take cognisance of the matter on the pattern of transfer of home secretaries of six states on March 18 to provide a ‘level-playing field” ahead of the Lok Sabha poll.

Though there was no complaint against the home secretaries of Bihar, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, they were shifted so that there was ‘no impression of bias’.

Prasad, a 1988-batch IAS officer, who was already holding the charges of FCR and ACS (Home), was given the charge of state Chief Secretary when Chief Secretary Sanjeev Kaushal proceeded on leave from March 15 to July 31, 2024. Kaushal proceeded on leave following the replacement of Manohar Lal Khattar with Nayab Singh Saini as the Chief Minister on March 12.

In his letter, copies of which were sent to Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar and Election Commissioners Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Sandhu, advocate Hemant Kumar urged them to give necessary directions to the Haryana Government to make regular appointments to the posts of the Chief Secretary and ACS (Home).

NEED LEVEL PLAYING FIELD

Holding post of Chief Secretary and ACS (Home) by the same officer as additional charge besides the charge of the FCR is ‘neither wise nor appreciable’ when the process to hold the Lok Sabha poll is in process. The ECI must take cognisance of the matter on the pattern of transfer of home secretaries of six states on March 18 to provide a ‘level playing field’ ahead of the Lok Sabha poll. — Letter to Election Commission of India