Gurugram: In a key administrative development, the Haryana government has secured a one-year extension for its chief secretary Anurag Rastogi, a 1990-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the Haryana cadre, allowing him to continue in his role until 30 June 2026.
The decision, approved by the Government of India, comes just days before Rastogi’s scheduled retirement on 30 June 2025, and has stirred discussions within the state’s bureaucratic circles, particularly among senior IAS officers who were eyeing the coveted post.
Rastogi, a native of Uttar Pradesh’s Moradabad, has been a pivotal figure in Haryana’s administration. His appointment as chief secretary in November last year, initially for a brief three-day period from 1 to 3 November, had already sparked controversy due to the sidelining officers senior to him.
At that time, Rastogi was appointed chief secretary while Vivek Joshi, then on Central deputation, completed his repatriation formalities and joined in as chief secretary.
However, after Joshi was named an election commissioner by the central government in February this year, Rastogi was again appointed as chief secretary.
When Rastogi was appointed chief secretary last year, he leapfrogged two senior IAS officers, Sudhir Rajpal and Sumita Misra, both from the 1990 batch but senior to him according to the gradation list of state IAS officers.
Rajpal, currently Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) for Health and Women and Child Development, and Misra, ACS (Home) were considered frontrunners based on seniority in the state cadre list.
Interestingly, Rastogi was one of three 1990-batch officers—the other two being Ankur Gupta (now retired) and Raja Sekhar Vundru—who are from the Haryana IAS cadre itself and had last year given a representation to the state government, seeking revision of the seniority list by placing them ahead of Rajpal and Misra, who had been transferred to Haryana from other states.
While the government never decided the representation, it ignored Rajpal and Misra’s seniority while appointing Rastogi as the CS in February this year.
Now, this new development has caused further ripples within the IAS cadre, as it also dims the prospects for other aspirants.
Among the affected officers is Anand Mohan Sharan, another 1990-batch IAS officer serving as ACS for Wildlife, Forest, and Environment, whose retirement is slated for 31 August 2025.
The extension means Sharan is now out of the race for chief secretary post as he retires before Rastogi’s extended tenure ends.
Sudhir Rajpal, with a retirement date of 30 November 2026, could theoretically be considered after Rastogi extended term ends. Sumita Misra, set to retire 31 January 2027, faces a diminished window to assume the top post in the state civil services.
Raja Sekhar Vundru, another officer of the 1990 batch, will also retire 31 July 2026, a month after Anurag Rastogi retires after his extended term. However, in case the government considers Rajpal or Misra or both for the CS post, Vundru will retire as additional chief secretary.
Also Read: Haryana picks Anurag Rastogi as Chief Secretary, superseding 2 seniors. A look at seniority dispute
Not first time
The extension of a chief secretary’s tenure is not unprecedented in Haryana. M.C. Gupta received a six-month extension from August 1996 to January 1997 under the Bansi Lal government, when the retirement age for IAS officers was 58 years (raised to 60 in May 1998).
More recently, during the Bhupinder Singh Hooda government, chief secretary P.K. Chaudhary was granted a six-month extension from July to December 2013. In 2014, S.C. Chaudhary’s tenure was extended until 31 July 2014 due to Lok Sabha elections, and Shakuntala Jakhu remained in office until 30 November 2014 to oversee the assembly elections, despite her scheduled retirement in September 2014.
However, Rastogi’s one-year extension, longer than the speculated six-month period similar to those granted to the chief secretaries in Himachal Pradesh and Odisha, has raised eyebrows, with some viewing it as a strategic move by the state government to retain a trusted officer.
The Nayab Singh Saini government recommended to the Centre 23 May that Rastogi be given an extension, which has now been approved.
The extension was formalised through an order issued by the Haryana government’s Personnel Department 20 June, following approval from the Centre’s Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), allowing Rastogi’s service to be extended from 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026.
The order, signed by the Haryana government’s personnel department’s special secretary Aditya Dahiya, has been circulated to key stakeholders.
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)