The Chandigarh UT administration has recently submitted a list of officers named for key posts of UT finance secretary, municipal commissioner and deputy commissioner to the Ministry of Home Affairs for approval. The strongest contenders for these coveted roles are — IAS Basant Garg (2005 batch) and IAS Amit Kumar (2008 batch) of the Punjab cadre, as well as IAS Nishant Kumar Yadav (2013 batch) of the Haryana cadre.
These officers are at the forefront for the crucial posts of finance secretary, MC commissioner (MC) and deputy commissioner (DC) respectively and will be deputed in Chandigarh for three years.
The MHA has also issued appointment orders for five AGMUT cadre IAS and IPS officers for Chandigarh. This seems to be the first time that UT will have eight new IAS, IPS and DANIPS officers joining around the same time, from the end of September to October.
The above-mentioned list of IAS officers was discussed at the level of Punjab Governor, Mr. Gulab Chand Kataria, before being sent to MHA. Seniority, bureaucratic experience, and past records are the prominent factors behind the decision to grant such important designations.
“The Chandigarh administration gives its views while sending the panel to the MHA. Though it is completely up to the MHA to decide on the names of officers to be posted in Chandigarh, it is dear that the names of new officers will be finalised either by this month or at the beginning of next month. The respective state governments had already sent the record of the officers in the panel as per the laid down format for selection and it has been studied thoroughly,” mentioned a source.
The MHA has also issued posting orders of two AGMUT cadre IAS officers, two AGMUT cadre IPS officers and one DANIPS officer in Chandigarh. The new officers who will join UT are 2006 batch IAS officer Prerna Puri and 2009 batch IAS officer Swapnil M Naik. Two IPS officers who will join UT are Manjeet and Geetanjali Khandelwal. Both are of 2015 batch. A DANIPS cadre officer of 2013 batch has also been posted in Chandigarh.
