Day before new Chief Secretary takes charge, J&K L-G orders new postings for six IAS officers

On the eve of Jammu and Kashmir's new Chief Secretary taking office, Lt Governor Manoj Sinha announced a significant bureaucratic reshuffle. Six senior IAS officers are set to transfer and assume new roles ahead of Sajjan Singh Yadav, a 1995-batch AGMUT cadre officer, assuming the Chief Secretary position following C S Atal Dulloo's retirement on October 31.

Shaleen Kabra, a 1992-batch AGMUT-cadre officer, has been reassigned as the Director General of the Jammu and Kashmir Institute of Management, Public Administration & Rural Development. Previously, Kabra held the positions of Financial Commissioner (Additional Chief Secretary) in the Jal Shakti Department, and additional charges of Financial Commissioner Revenue, J&K; Administrative Secretary, Estates Department, and Administrative Secretary Revenue Department.

Rehana Batul, a 2010-batch IAS officer, has been appointed as Commissioner-Secretary of the Tribal Affairs Department, relieving Avny Lavasa, who will now serve as Additional Commissioner-Secretary of the Revenue Department. Lavasa will also take on the additional charge of Administrative Secretary in the Revenue Department.

Chandraker Bharti, a 1996-batch AGMUT cadre officer, will serve as the additional Financial Commissioner Revenue, J&K. M Raju, a 1995-batch IAS officer, will assume additional charges as Administrative Secretary for Hospitality & Protocol and Administrative Secretary for the Department of Disaster Management, Relief, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction. Saugat Biswasm, a 2006-batch IAS officer, will hold the additional charge as Administrative Secretary for the Jal Shakti Department.

The reshuffle comes after the government had previously transferred two IAS officers, Ashwani Kumar and Dr Ashish Chandra Verma, from Jammu and Kashmir to Delhi with immediate effect. Kumar, a 1992-batch IAS officer, was shifted to the Financial Commissioner (Additional Chief Secretary) position in the Power Development Department, while Verma, a 1994-batch IAS officer, was moved to the Financial Commissioner (ACS) position in the Agriculture Production Department.

Several bureaucrats in Jammu and Kashmir's administration are senior to Yadav's appointment, including Dheeraj Gupta, a 1993-batch IAS officer, who serves as Additional Chief Secretary to Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and will not report to Yadav. Two other ACS-rank IAS officers, Shailendra Kumar and Anil Kumar Singh, are also from the 1995 batch, with Kumar serving as Financial Commissioner, Finance, and Singh as Financial Commissioner, PWD (R&B).