Delhi government faces shortage of senior bureaucrats

The AAP government is reportedly facing a shortage of senior bureaucrats as none of the IAS and Danics officials posted to their mother state cadre and other Union Territories want to join the city administration.

Chief secretary K.K. Sharma has reportedly taken up the matter not only with the Union home ministry, but also with Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram Union Territories (AGMUT) with the request that officials who have already been transferred to Delhi be relieved forthwith. The worrying factor for the Delhi government is that some of the officials already in Delhi have proceeded on leave as they are looking for other avenues.

After senior bureaucrat Chetan B. Sanghi, a 1994 AGMUT cadre officer, Amar Nath, recently extended his leave for one-and-a-half months as he was reluctant to join the Delhi government after his powers were cut by the AAP government when he was its health secretary.

A highly-placed source said that the Union home ministry is in the process of writing to all the Union Territories to relieve all those officers who have been transferred to Delhi. The home ministry has taken up the issue after the Delhi government’s plea to direct other Union Territories to relieve those who have been transferred to Delhi as the state government has relieved all those who have been transferred.

It is reliably learnt that Mr Sharma has already taken up the issue with the MHA and he has also talked to his counterparts in Arunachal Pradesh, Puducherry and Andaman and Nicobar to get back officers who have been transferred to Delhi as the government has been facing shortage of officers.

There are over a dozen officials who have not joined the Delhi government despite their transfer orders. As a result, several departments are being handled by junior-level officers. There are no principal secretary rank officers in departments like transport, food and supplies, environment, PWD, health and power. Worried over the treatment being meted out to them by the AAP government, several bureaucrats are reluctant to join the state government. They have proceeded on leave and are lobbying to get Central postings.