The New Year brings bad augury for Haryana as this state is verging on an acute administrative crisis as 17 top bureaucrats are going to retire this year. These officers include 13 IAS and four IPS officers. The state is already grappling with a shortfall of 42 IAS officers.
Among the prominent officers retiring this year are Chief Secretary Anurag Rastogi (1990 batch), Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister Arun Kumar Gupta (1992 batch), and former DGP Shatrujeet Singh Kapoor (1990 batch). Kapoor, who is currently serving as the Chairman of Haryana Police Housing Corporation after being stripped of the DGP charge, is retiring on October 31. Chief Secretary Anurag Rastogi, who is already on a one-year service extension, is set to retire on June 30.
Among senior IAS officers scheduled to retire include Additional Chief Secretaries, Principal Secretaries, and seasoned district and departmental heads spread throughout the year.
Senior-most IAS officers Sudhir Rajpal and Raja Shekhar Vundru (both of the 1990 batch), both serving as Additional Chief Secretaries; Abhilaksh Likhi (1991 batch), Secretary to the Government of India; and D Suresh (1995 batch), Principal Secretary, are the other officers slated to retire. Vundru will retire on July 31, and D Suresh on August 31. Similarly, Gupta will be retiring on September 30, and Likhi on November 30.
Others on the retirement list include Mukesh Kumar Ahuja (2009) on March 31, Jasbir Arya (2009) on April 30, Virender Lather (2014) on April 30, Pradeep Kumar (2011) on June 30, Anita Yadav (2004) on September 30, Sanjay Joon (2003) on October 31, and Geeta Bharti (2005) on November 30.
Among IPS officers retiring this year are Sanjeev Kumar Jain (1991 batch), retiring on September 30; Hardeep Singh Doon (1998 batch), retiring on May 31; and Dr Rajshree Singh (1999 batch), retiring on July 31.
This exodus is bound to confound the woes of the Haryana government, as at least 12 IAS officers are already on central deputation. The state is already facing a shortfall of 42 IAS officers compared to the sanctioned strength of 225 posts. Only 183 IAS officers are currently in service.
At present, V Umashankar and Abhilaksh Likhi of the 1991 batch; Deepti Umashankar, Sukriti Likhi, and Neerja Shekhar of the 1993 batch; Nitin Kumar Yadav of the 2000 batch; Vikas Gupta and Pankaj Yadav of the 2001 batch; and Nikhil Gajraj of the 2008 batch are on deputation with the Central Government. Similarly, Sharandeep Kaur Brar of the 2009 batch and Dr Garima Mittal of the 2010 batch are also serving with the Central Government.
Although the state recently received six new IAS officers, the retirement of 13 seasoned IAS officers is definitely going to take its toll on the quality of its administration.The impending crisis can be better understood from the fact that many senior IAS officers are currently holding multiple departments; in several cases, three to four departments.
As per rules, 67 percent of IAS posts are filled through direct recruitment and about 33 percent through promotion. It means 66 IAS posts in the state are to be filled through promotion, but several promotion quota posts remain vacant despite the acute shortage of officers.
In this way, this large-scale retirement is a bad forebading for the state, which is already struggling with a shortage of top-level administrators. It raises serious concerns about governance and policy implementation.
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