Chief Minister of Haryana Manohar Lal Khattar is unhappy over the distribution of departments to the cadre of IAS and IPS officers in the UT administration. He has raised objections and written to Punjab governor-cum-UT administrator Banwarilal Purohit — the second such letter within two months. The first was written on March 31; the second on May 28.
One of them, letter said, “In the recent past, the UT administration has been largely dominated by officers from the UT cadre, whether from the IAS and DANICS cadre. The result has been that most of the important posts have been cornered by officers from the UT cadre and the two services, thereby directly affecting the interest of the two states—Haryana and Punjab, who are the main inheritors of the legacy of Chandigarh as per the Punjab Re-organisation act, 1966.”. The March 31 letter was written after the administration repatriated two HCS officers in February this year.
The letter further stated, “This can also be noted from the decreasing powers and responsibilities entrusted with the UT home secretary and the deputy commissioner, the two IAS officers deputed by Haryana. It is pertinent to mention here that previously the posts of secretary, health, science and technology, vigilance, chairman, Chandigarh Housing Board remained with the home secretary.”
“The posts of labour commissioner and registrar, Cooperative Societies, Chandigarh, were also assigned to the deputy commissioner, but now these posts are manned by other officers of other cadres. On the other hand, several officers from IAS and DANICS have been inducted into Chandigarh, in a clear violation of the spirit of the Punjab Re-organisation Act, 1966 and the principle of 60:40 distribution of posts between Punjab and Haryana, with no stipulation for the UT.”
