Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): There seems to be a shortage of IAS officers in an election year. This is the reason that 62 officers are holding additional charge of many departments.
It has happened for the time that so many departments are functioning under the officers, holding additional charge. There are 12 additional chief secretaries and 27 principal secretaries in the state. Some of the principal secretaries are going to the Centre on deputation.
Consequently, many important departments have been given to the officers as additional change. The main reason for this is the lack of IAS officers belonging to the batches from 1997 to 2007. There are only two/three officers belonging to a few batches of this period.
Because of the shortage of officers, the state may be in the same situation as it is today in the coming years. Industries Department, Revenue Department, Women and Child Welfare Department, Cooperative Department, Social Justice Department, Jail Department, Animal Husbandry Department, Planning Department and OBC Welfare Department are functioning under the officers holding additional charge.
Apart from these wings, there are a few departments where head of the departments and managing directors of some corporations are holding additional charge.
5 Big Departments May Remain Vacant
In the coming days, five important departments may remain vacant. Principal secretary Deepali Rastogi may go to the Centre. Therefore, the Commercial Tax Department and Women and Child Welfare Department will remain vacant.
Principal secretary, Pallavi Jain Govil, may also leave for the Centre. So, the SC/ST Welfare Department will be vacant. Similarly, principal secretary Deepti Gaud Mukherjee is also going to the Centre, but GV Rashmi has been posted as secretary to the personnel department.
16 Senior Officers T0 Retire In Coming Two Years
Sixteen senior IAS officers, posted in the state and the Centre, will retire in the coming two years. On the other hand, six IAS officers of 2000 and 2001 batches will be made principal secretaries.
Besides chief secretary Iqbal Singh Bains, senior IAS officers Ajay Tirki, Sanjay Bandyopadhyay, Veera Rana, Anurag Jain, Mohd Suleman, Ashish Upadhyay, Rajiv Ranjan, Vinod Kumar, JN Kansotia, SN Mishra, Ashwini Rai, Malay Shrivastava, Ajit Kesri, Pankaj Rag and Kalpana Shrivasava will retire in the next two years.
