The Maharashtra government on Wednesday (March 11, 2026) issued transfer and posting orders for three IAS officers.
IAS officer Vijay Suryavanshi (IAS:2006:MH), who was serving as Divisional Commissioner, Konkan Division, has been appointed as Municipal Commissioner of the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation, Pimpri, Pune.
IAS officer Bapu Pawar (IAS:2015:MH), Joint Secretary in the Water Supply and Sanitation Department, Mumbai, has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer of the Maharashtra Medical Goods Procurement Authority, Mumbai.
Meanwhile, Mahesh Awhad (IAS:2015:MH), who was serving as Chief Executive Officer of the Maharashtra Medical Goods Procurement Authority, Mumbai, has been appointed as Chairman and Managing Director of the Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited, Pune.
The appointment of senior IAS officer Rohit Kansal (IAS:1995:AGMUT) as “Honorary Special Fellow” at the country’s prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has sparked a controversy, with the teachers’ association of the university questioning the decision on Tuesday. The Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers’ Association (JNUTA) claims it was done without the approval of the Executive Council in violation of its statutes.
The controversy erupted after the university announced Kansal’s appointment on its official social media handle X, saying university Vice Chancellor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit is delighted to announce the appointment of Rohit Kansal as Honorary Special Fellow at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Centre for Security & Strategic Studies at the School of International Studies of the JNU.
Kansal is currently serving as Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Textiles under the Government of India.
The teachers’ body claims that there is no such position in JNU, and if the university intended to create the post, it is the Executive Council (EC) that has the sole authority to do it and appoint someone to that position in the university.
A press release issued by JNUTA said that without the approval of the EC, the announcement of the appointment would be illegal.
The association now demands the vice chancellor to come out clean on the issue and explain how she bestowed powers upon herself to make this appointment, flouting all relevant statutes.
The JNUTA dubbed the appointment illegal and demanded immediate withdrawal of the announcement regarding Kansal’s appointment.
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) on Wednesday (March 11, 2026) approved the empanelment of 30 Indian Police Service (IPS) officers for appointment to the posts of Additional Director General (ADG) or equivalent at the Centre.
Of the total officers empanelled, 28 belong to the 1998 batch, while two officers are from the 1994 batch.
Additional Director General/Additional Director General Equivalent posts:
IAS officer Prashant Kumar Mishra (IAS:2014:KN) has been appointed as Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to the Union Minister for Jal Shakti, CR Patil. His appointment has been made in the Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation.
According to an order issued by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) on Wednesday (March 11, 2026), the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved Mishra’s appointment to the post at the level of Deputy Secretary.
He will serve in the position for a period of four years from the date of assuming charge of the post. However, the tenure will be on a co-terminus basis with the minister or until he ceases to function as OSD to the minister, or until further orders, whichever is earlier.
The central deputation tenure of Pallavi Singh (IRPS:2008) as Director in the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has been extended for two years.
According to an order issued by the DoPT on Wednesday (March 11, 2026), the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved the proposal to extend her deputation tenure for two years beyond April 11, 2026, or until further orders, whichever is earlier.
Singh began her central deputation on April 12, 2021, when she joined the DoPT as Deputy Secretary for a period of four years. She was later appointed as Director in the department.
Earlier, her tenure had been extended by one year from April 11, 2025 to April 11, 2026. With the latest order, her central deputation has now been extended for another two years.
Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) has recorded its highest ever sales for the April–February period of FY26. During the first eleven months of the financial year, the company sold 18.24 million tonnes (MT) of steel. This is 14 per cent higher than the same period last year. SAIL also reported its highest cash collection of ₹1.11 lakh crore during the period. This is about 10 per cent higher compared to last year.
The company said retail sales, stockyard sales and door deliveries improved during the period. The growth reflects SAIL’s focus on expanding its customer base.
In February 2026, the company recorded total sales of 1.58 MT.
SAIL also reduced its inventory by 1.05 lakh tonnes compared to January 2026. During the same period, the company brought down its borrowings by ₹1,000 crore.
The company has also restarted production of chequered plates in response to market demand. These plates are being produced for the first time at the Bokaro Steel Plant in Jharkhand.
Commenting on the performance, A.K. Panda, Director (Finance) with additional charge of Director (Commercial), said the company is ready to respond to changing market conditions. He said better control of inventory and working capital shows financial discipline. Record sales and cash collections also reflect strong demand from customers.
The Supreme Court finally approved the Central Government’s proposal to extend the term of chairpersons and members of various tribunals in the country on Monday. As per the proposal, those who were due to retire soon will now continue to serve till September 8.
The approval was given by a Bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi. Attorney General (AG) R Venkataramani informed the top court that the Union Government is considering bringing in a new Tribunal Bill related to the tribunals’ functioning and appointments of their members either in the ongoing Budget session or the Monsoon session of Parliament.
He said that to avoid any confusion or problem in the functioning of tribunals, the government has decided to give an extension of tenure to all members who are set to retire in the interregnum till September 8 of this year.
The AG told the court that everybody who was appointed under the Tribunal Reforms Act of 2021 will continue to serve, and by September a new law will be enacted. He added that about 21 members are due to retire in the meantime.
It should be reminded here that the top court had struck down, through its ruling in November 2025, the provisions of the Tribunals Reforms Act, 2021, on appointment and tenure of tribunal members, for being violative of its earlier judgments on the issue.
The AG informed the court that the new bill will be in accordance with last year’s verdict and smooth the functioning and appointments of members in various tribunals.
CJI Kant once again raised the issue of the lack of accountability of tribunals and said they should be responsible to some authority.
“If their work is not up to the mark, why should their tenure be at all extended?” the CJI remarked.
The CJI opined that there should be a comprehensive law fixing accountability of members of tribunals. This is not the first time that the apex court has voiced its reservation about the tribunal. It had expressed serious displeasure over the functioning of tribunals in the country on February 26, saying they have become a “liability” and “mess” without any “accountability,” and flagged that technical members of a financial tribunal were even “outsourcing writing of judgement.”
The Supreme Court’s observations came while hearing a plea for the extension of tenure of tribunal members, including chairpersons, in the wake of last year’s verdict, which struck down the Tribunal Reforms Act, 2021.
Despite the Supreme Court’s directions to ‘progressively reduce’ deputation of IPS officers to the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs), the Union Cabinet approved the Central Armed Police Forces (General Administration) Bill draft on Tuesday. This Bill is aimed at retaining the provision for deputation of IPS officers at the level of Inspector General (IG) and Deputy Inspector General (DIG) in the CAPFs. It is likely to be tabled in the Parliament soon.
The Supreme Court had last year confirmed ‘organised services’ (OGAS) status for group A CAPF officers for all purposes and directed the central government to progressively reduce deputation posts of IPS officers in the senior administrative grade (SAG) up to the rank of IG in CAPFs. As per the current recruitment rules for CAPFs, 20% of the posts at the DIG level and 50% at the IG level are deputation posts for IPS officers.
By asking the Centre to gradually reduce the number of deputation posts in the CAPFs for the IPS officers, the apex court ruling was seen as a career booster for around 13,000 CAPF cadre officers, who often complained of discrimination on account of IPS officers grabbing the plum DIG and IG level posts.
The Centre had tried its best to retain this provision by filing a review petition earlier against the SC verdict, though it was dismissed by the court in Oct 2025.
After seeing the govt not implementing the SC ruling, a number of contempt petitions were filed in the court, which are in the process of being heard.
Interestingly, the Centre had filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court on Monday seeking a further time period of one year for completion of a comprehensive review for existing Group A cadres by the CAPFs and submission of cadre review proposals to govt for action in compliance with SC directions. It told the top court that the cadre review exercise is a long-drawn process and is already underway.
Not only this, but the govt went on to say it is actively examining the matter and considering statutory and regulatory intervention wherever necessary, despite the fact that contempt petitions are pending before the SC. The Centre submitted in its affidavit that the matter involves policy, financial, and structural implications having long-term administrative consequences, and therefore requires careful and due consideration at each stage.
The CAPF officers feel that this Amendment Bill virtually seeks to override these problems by adding the provision for deputation of IPS officers in senior CAPF posts in the Act itself.
A deadlock of sorts seems to be brewing over the appointment of a regular Punjab DGP, with the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) writing again to the Punjab government seeking a panel of eligible officers for the appointment of a regular DGP for the state. The commission’s earlier letter to the state govt for the same failed to extract any response within the stipulated time.
The fresh letter is learnt to have been written by the UPSC on March 5.
The reminder reportedly sent by the UPSC Secretary, Shashi Ranjan Kumar, is addressed to Punjab Chief Secretary K A P Sinha, asking him to “personally” examine the matter and instruct the officials concerned to send the panel of eligible officers.
In the reminder, Kumar has referred to the Feb 18 letter, in which the UPSC cited the Supreme Court’s Feb 5 directions, requesting the state govt to send a complete proposal within 10 days.
It needs to be recalled here that the apex court had slammed the practice of some states having acting DGPs and directed the UPSC to act against the states that dilly-dally in sending proposals for DGP empanelment in its ruling on Feb 5.
Interestingly, the state Home Department, after receiving the UPSC’s Feb 18 communication, even sought details of eligible officers, saying it “has records of the officers.”
Not only this, but the UPSC, in its Feb 18 letter, had clarified that it considered the date of occurrence of the vacancy as Feb 5, the date of the Supreme Court’s latest directions in the matter.
The Punjab’s Bhagwant Mann govt had appointed a 1992-batch IPS officer, Gaurav Yadav, as an acting DGP in July 2022 by superseding several senior officers soon after assuming power in the state. Yadav has since been holding the post for 3 years and 8 months now.
The state govt went a step further to circumvent the Supreme Court-mandated UPSC procedure for selecting the DGP and passed the Punjab Police (Amendment) Bill 2023. The bill provided for selecting the DGP with a state-controlled seven-member empanelment committee.
According to government sources, the bill is lying with the President for approval after being referred by the Governor.
As per established norms, the UPSC’s Empanelment Committee selects three names from the panel of officers sent by the state govt. on the basis of seniority, experience, and service records, and subsequently forwards the panel to the state govt to choose one of them as the DGP.
As the race for the Telangana DGP post enters the final round, the senior-most IPS officer, C.V. Anand (IPS:1991:TG), has emerged as the frontrunner. The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) is holding the empanelment committee meeting in New Delhi on Wednesday to recommend a panel of three IPS officers. Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy will pick one of them as the new chief of the state police.
The appointment of a new DGP has been necessitated as the acting DGP, B. Shivadhar Reddy (IPS:1994:TG), is going to retire next month.
The UPSC had been given a four-week deadline to complete the process of recommending three names to the state government by the Supreme Court in its ruling on Feb 5.
State Chief Secretary K. Ramakrishna Rao is believed to have deputed the Resident Commissioner to attend the meeting on his behalf due to the swearing-in ceremony of Shiv Pratap Shukla as the new Telangana Governor.
According to official sources, the Telangana govt had submitted a list of five top IPS officers—C.V. Anand, Vinay Prabhakar Apte (IPS:1994:TG), Soumya Mishra (IPS:1994:TG), Shikha Goel (IPS:1994:TG) and Abhilasha Bist (IPS:1994:TG)—to the UPSC for shortlisting three names. As Apte, currently posted as Joint Director of the Intelligence Bureau, has been staying out of the state for most of his service, his name is unlikely to be included in the panel of three. Thus, CV Anand, Soumya Mishra, and Shikha Goel will be left in the race.
Despite being the most senior IPS officer of the state, another potent reason for Anand being touted as a frontrunner is that he has served mostly in the state throughout his career. Besides having served as Hyderabad Police Commissioner twice, he also headed the Cyberabad police. Added to it, Anand has sufficient work experience in the region that will be the government’s growth engine as part of Telangana Rising 2047.
Another factor in favour of Anand’s suitability for the role is his belonging to the powerful Reddy community, and also he enjoys cordial relations with all social groups and political parties in the state that will help him run the show effectively. Plus age is on his side as Anand will be in service till May 2028.
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