With a cadre of 153 IAS officials, the retirement of five senior bureaucrats this year will result in a significant decline in the number of bureaucrats in the state.
The shortage is primarily due to the state government’s need for fewer officers due to Himachal’s small size. Currently, 110 IAS officers serve in Himachal on various roles, with 10 on central deputation.
Adviser (Power) Ram Subhag Singh, Secretary (Irrigation and Public Health) Amitabh Awasthy, Director, Tourism and Civil Aviation and Managing Director, HP Tourism Development Corporation (HPTDC) Amit Kashyap, Secretary (Ayurveda and HP State Electricity Board) Rajeev Sharma, and Secretary (Finance) Akshay Sood are among the IAS officers who will retire this year.
Interestingly, Himachal has five Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) jobs, including the Chief Secretary, although not a single bureaucrat serves as ACS.
Sanjay Murthy and Ali Raza Rizvi are the only two ACS-rank officers currently serving with the Centre Government. When RD Dhiman was named Chief Secretary, two ACS, Nisha Singh and Sanjay Gupta, were promoted as Advisers to the Government.
Only after 30 years of service can a person be appointed as ACS, and two officers from the 1994 class (Anuradha Thakur and Onkar Chand Sharma) are due for promotion in January 2024. Thakur is currently on federal deputation, whereas Sharma is Principal Secretary (Revenue and Forest).
Despite a shortage of around 35 policemen, the state government has sought no more than two to three cops in each batch. In 2016, the state received six IAS officers.
