Facing a severe shortage of Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers, the Rajasthan government has written to the Centre seeking the repatriation of two senior bureaucrats — Rohit Kumar (IAS:1997:RJ) and Siddharth Mahajan (IAS:2003:RJ) — who are currently on central deputation.
At present, only 280 officers are serving in the state against a sanctioned strength of 332. Of these, 23 officers are on central deputation and one on inter-state deputation, adding extra administrative burden on those serving in Rajasthan.
Mahajan is currently posted as Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, while Rohit Kumar serves as Additional Secretary in the Cabinet Secretariat. Another senior officer, Purna Chandra Kishan (IAS:2005:RJ), appointed as Joint Secretary in the Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare in August 2024, has also sought repatriation to the Rajasthan cadre for personal reasons.
According to sources, one of these officers may be considered for the post of Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, which fell vacant following the transfer of Alok Gupta (IAS:1996:RJ) as Principal Secretary, Industries.
Notably, just days ago the state government had withdrawn the No-Objection Certificates (NOCs) of three IAS officers — K K Pathak (IAS:2001:RJ), P Ramesh (IAS:2005:RJ), and Nakate Shiv Prasad Madan (IAS:2011:RJ) — citing the acute shortage of officers. Despite this, the Centre went ahead and appointed Dr Pathak as Joint Secretary in the Department of Fertilisers. He was relieved by the state government nearly a month later, ending weeks of stalemate. The episode, and the latest repatriation requests, underscore the persistent scarcity of IAS officers needed to sustain Rajasthan’s administrative machinery.
Join Us on WhatsApp