Despite being disagreement of Supreme Court over third extension of ED Director Sanjay Kumar Mishra, 63 years old and an IRS officer of 1984 batch, central government has taken one more such decision.

The Modi government has granted Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla, an IAS officer of 1984 batch, a one-year extension till August 22, 2024. It is his fourth extension as home secretary.

63 years old Bhalla’s extension has been approved by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet.

Related Stories

Minister of Home Affairs Transferred 39 IAS and 42 IPS Officers

North Raipur Celebrated Festival of Democracy with All-Women Polling Stations

Beyond Duty: Chennai Cop’s Heartwarming Baby Rescue Goes Viral

Haryana: Retd State Service Officer Inducted into IAS

Karnataka’s ICU on Wheels Saves Lives in Pandemic, Wins SKOCH Award

Release Retiral Benefits to Retd. IAS Sukhjit Singh Bains, Says CAT

5 IAS Officer Transferred By Tamil Nadu Government

Punjab: 5 IAS including 5 PCS officer’s transferred

Mr Bhalla took on the position of home secretary in August 2019.

He was set to retire in November 2020 after attaining 60 years of age. His tenure was first extended on October 17, 2020 till August 22, 2021. Bhalla’s tenure was extended by one more year on August 12 last year and was to end on Monday.

Subsequently, he received two additional one-year extensions, leading up to his current term’s expiration. This marks his fourth extension in the role.

Under the rules, besides the home secretary, others who can be granted extension beyond the age limit are the foreign secretary, defence secretary and heads of Intelligence Bureau and R&AW, India’s external intelligence agency. The service rules have provisions related to extension in service of such officers beyond the age of 60 years in ‘public interest’ for such “period or periods as it may deem proper on a case-to-case basis for reasons to be recorded in writing”.

While one more such case, government haa given extension of service to ED director Sanjay Kumar Mishra, 3 times. But, the Supreme Court (SC) has struck down the one-year extension given to Mr Mishra in November 2022 and asked him to demit office by July 31 this year. This comes after the Centre extended the tenure of Mishra by a year till November 18, 2023.