In an unusual gesture of goodwill shown to its senior-most IAS officer with an unblemished career, the Haryana government on Tuesday exempted IAS officer Sudhir Rajpal (IAS:1990:HY) from restrictions applicable to officers during the last two months of service.
The Human Resources Department of the state govt issued an order on October 13 in this regard.
Rajpal retires on 30 November, so the two-month restraint period began on October 1.
The Haryana govt had issued instructions on May 26, 2022, restraining officers from exercising some crucial powers like transfers, promotions, recruitments and purchases during the last two months of service.
Rajpal is currently serving as Additional Chief Secretary (ACS), Home, Jails, Criminal Investigation and Administration of Justice. Besides, he also holds the responsibilities of Environment, Forests & Wildlife, and Finance & Planning departments.
According to the order, he will now be able to “exercise all the powers enabling him as Administrative Secretary up to 15 November 2026.”
Rajpal has been an IAS officer known for high integrity and a spotless career.
Interestingly, the state govt gave him the free hand only on 13 October, three days after he had signed three transfer orders of 13 IPS and 22 HPS officers.
According to sources, these curbs were imposed on retiring officers after numerous complaints of financial irregularities, charges of nepotism and favouritism. The letter said all this had tarnished the government’s image.
That was the reason behind the state govt’s restrictions asking a retiring Administrative Secretary to must send five kinds of cases to the Chief Secretary for prior approval during his last two months of service.
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