Madhya Pradesh: Shortage of senior IAS officers, many given additional charge

BHOPAL: Many bureaucrats are holding additional charge because of the shortage of senior IAS officers. The departments where the senior IAS officers are generally posted have been given to the principal secretaries as additional charge.

The charge of chairman, Board of Secondary Education, is with the principal secretary of the school education department, Rashmi Arun Shami. Similarly, the charge of director-general of Administrative Academy is with the principal secretary of the personnel department, Dipti Gaud Mukherjee.

In the same way, the charge of the Tribal Research Institute is with the principal secretary of the women and child development department, Ashok Shah.

Apart from that, the responsibility of the chairman of the Professional Examination Board is with KK Singh.

There are 36 additional chief secretary-level and principal secretary-level officers in the state. Twenty-two officers are on deputation to the Centre.

Additional chief secretary of Panchayat and rural development Manoj Shrivastava is retiring this month. Similarly, agriculture production commissioner KK Singh will retire in August and additional chief secretary RS Julania in September. Additional chief secretary of the Narmada Valley development department IPC Kesri and principal secretary of the urban development department Nitesh Vyas are going to the Centre on deputation. Principal secretary of the finance department Manoj Govil and principal secretary of the tribal welfare department Pallavi Jain Govil may also go to the Centre on deputation.

Besides principal secretary Manish Singh, other officers who are on deputation to the Centre have not returned to the state for a long time. Many of them do not wish to come back.

There is also a shortage of secretary-level officers. There are commissioners in Rewa, Chambal and Shahdol divisions with additional charge. The commissioner of Hoshangabad, Rajneesh Shrivastava, and that of Bhopal, Kavindra Kiyawat, are retiring this year. There may be an administrative reshuffle because of the shortage of officers.

After the BJP returned to power in March, a major administrative reshuffle was done in May last year. Preparations are on for another administrative reshuffle after one year. According to sources, the departments of many principal secretaries and collectors of many districts may be changed.