Shifting of office to Dharamsala can make posts of RERA chief unattractive for bureaucrats
Retired bureaucrats may not find the much sought after post of the Chairman of the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) lucrative anymore after the state government issued a notification regarding the shifting of the RERA office from the state capital to Dharamsala.
The appointment of the RERA Chairman is on hold at present but the decision to shift its office from the state capital to Dharamsala, the second capital of the state, may cause most of the officers to lose interest in post-retirement employment. The Principal Secretary (Housing) has written a letter to the Chairman of RERA, seeking the details of the office space requirement in Dharamsala.
“The state government intends to shift the office of RERA from Shimla to Dharamsala. You are requested to kindly submit the office space and residential accommodation requirements so that the matter can be taken up with the Deputy Commissioner, Kangra,” the letter reads. The shifting of the RERA office to Dharamsala comes at a time when the delay in the appointment of its Chairman has been challenged in the High Court of Himachal Pradesh.
Though a formal order is still awaited, there is a possibility that the government may even shift the office of the Chief Information Commissioner from Shimla to Dharamsala. In that case, the post of the Chief Information Commissioner and one post of Information Commissioner will also become unattractive for retired bureaucrats and those who are about to retire.
However, the real purpose of shifting offices from Shimla to Dharamsala will be fulfilled if these are housed in government accommodation and not in private buildings, which will help the government save money on the payment of rent.
The RERA office is the third major office that is being shifted from Shimla to Dharamsala. Earlier, orders for shifting the offices of the Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (HPTDC) and the wildlife wing of the Forest Department were issued. The possibility that some more offices maybe shifted to Dharamsala in Kangra district or other districts cannot be ruled out, as Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu has already given an indication to this effect. In 1983, the office of the HP Board of School Education was shifted from Shimla to Dharamsala.
Around 24 persons have applied for the posts of Chairman and Member (2) in the RERA in response to an advertisement published in newspapers. Former Chief Secretary Srikant Baldi’s term as RERA Chairman got over on December 12, 2024.
Chief Secretary Prabodh Saxena is the frontrunner for the post of RERA Chairman and he has applied for it. Besides him, RD Dhiman, a former Chief Secretary, who is at present Chief Information Commissioner, is also in the race for the RERA Chairman’s post. His term as Chief Information Commissioner will get over on December 31, 2025.
Besides Saxena and Dhiman, many retired IAS, IPS and Indian Forest Service (IFS) officers are also vying for post-retirement appointment in RERA. However, it will be interesting to see how many of them will be willing to relocate to Dharamsala, as a majority of them are settled in Shimla.
