Gurugram: Former Haryana chief minister (CM) Manohar Lal Khattar’s close associate, retired IAS officer Rajesh Khullar, has once again emerged as a power centre in the CMO led by Nayab Saini.
During work distribution among officers in the CMO Wednesday, Saini entrusted Khullar, his chief principal secretary, with 21 key departments. These include almost all departments held by the CM, as well as one or more departments held by most other ministers in the Haryana cabinet.
Khullar was also made the overall in-charge of the CMO and most files will not move forward without his approval.
The critical departments he will oversee are excise and taxation, finance, revenue, health, home, industries, irrigation, administration of justice, Ayush, general administration, information and PR, jails, labour, medical education, public health engineering, parliamentary affairs, law and legislative affairs, Raj Bhawan affairs, public works, social justice and empowerment, town and country planning and urban and rural planning.
Khullar has further been tasked with overseeing legislative proposals and even matters related to issuing ordinances. Subjects not allotted to any other officers will also go automatically to him.
During Wednesday’s exercise, the CM’s principal secretary, Arun Gupta, was assigned nine departments and tasked with handling work related to the CM’s announcements.
Gupta will look after civil aviation, forests, environment & wildlife, food supply, housing, mining, transport, urban local bodies, cooperation and youth empowerment.
Additional principal secretary to the CM, Saket Kumar, will oversee agriculture, animal husbandry, development and panchayats, elections, fisheries, foreign affairs, soldier & paramilitary welfare, women and child development, Kurukshetra Development Board, as well as monitor the performance of departments under the ‘CM Window’.
Saini’s deputy principal secretary Yash Pal will look after architecture, archives, higher education, school education, sports, printing & stationery, heritage & tourism, and Haryana Sarasvati Heritage Development Board.
Sudhanshu Gautam, Officer on Special Duty (OSD) in the CMO, will be responsible for Government Housing Allotment, CM Announcements, CM Relief Fund, Haryana Rural Development Fund, HRMS & Online Transfer Policy and the Waqf Board.
Rakesh Sandhu, another OSD, will handle public grievances while Vivek Kalia, also an OSD, will look after CM Window and manage Jan Samvad programme.
Khullar emerges as most powerful
As chief principal secretary, Khullar will be looking after most portfolios held by CM Saini, including home, finance, excise and taxation, town & country planning and urban estates, information & PR, administration of justice, general administration and law and legislative affairs.
He will also oversee the energy and labour departments held by state minister Anil Vij.
During Khattar’s second term as Haryana CM from October 2019 to March 2024, Vij had stopped clearing files of his health department, irked at the alleged interference of the CMO in its functioning.
Khullar will also be in charge of industries and commerce department held by minister Rao Narbir Singh, parliamentary affairs held by minister Mahipal Dhanda, revenue department held by minister Vipul Goel, jails held by minister Arvind Sharma, public works and public health engineering held by minister Ranbir Gangwa, social justice and empowerment held by minister Krishan Bedi, irrigation and water resources held by minister Shruti Choudhry, and health, medical education and Ayush held by Arti Rao—thus being involved with the portfolios of almost every Haryana minister.
During Khattar’s second term too, Khullar was the most powerful officer in the CMO with 17 key departments in his kitty.
Who is Rajesh Khullar?
Khullar is a 1988-batch IAS officer who has been a trusted confidant of Khattar since the BJP came to power in Haryana in 2014.
He joined Khattar’s first CMO as special principal secretary in 2015 but soon replaced Sanjeev Kaushal as principal secretary to the CM.
In Khattar’s second term, Khullar was appointed as executive director at the World Bank in September 2020. He returned in February 2023 and was posted as additional chief secretary (revenue).
After Khullar retired on 31 August, 2023, he was appointed as chief principal secretary to Khattar within 24 hours, replacing 1982-batch officer D.S. Dhesi. Even after the BJP appointed Nayab Saini as the new CM of Haryana in March this year, ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, Khullar retained his post.
After the Haryana assembly elections this October, Saini again appointed Khullar as chief principal secretary, after some initial hiccups.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
Also Read: Haryana’s own ‘Kailashnathan’. Who is Rajesh Khullar, key power centre under Khattar & now Saini