Lucknow: Often known as Yogi Adityanath’s “blue-eyed boy”, Aunjaneya Kumar Singh, a 2005-batch IAS officer, has been given a rare 7th consecutive extension in an inter-cadre deputation on the CM’s intervention. This will mean the officer, who belongs to UP, but originally belongs to the Sikkim cadre, will have spent 11 consecutive years in UP, when this term ends in August 2026.
Singh had first been posted to UP on deputation in 2015, which was to end in 2020, but was given several extensions at the state government’s request. His last posting was as Divisional Commissioner of Moradabad. After his term ended on August 14, 2025, he had gone on leave.
However, in a last-minute decision, the Yogi Adityanath government recommended another extension and the Union Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions approved it, allowing him to stay for one more year. This will mark his 11th year in Uttar Pradesh.
49-year-old Singh, who hails from Mau district in Uttar Pradesh, has spent only 8 years in with original cadre, Sikkim, while serving for 10 years in UP.
In 2015, then Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav had brought Singh on deputation to Uttar Pradesh on the recommendation of Rajnath Singh, according to BJP sources. Since then, under CM Yogi Adityanath, his deputation has been extended several times. On the Yogi government’s request, the Centre has approved six extensions so far—four for one year each and two for six months each.
Action on Azam Khan & controversies
Controversies have marked Singh’s tenure in UP as the Samajwadi Party accused him of targeting its leader, Azam Khan. It was during his tenure as the DM of Rampur in 2019 that a case of hate speech was lodged against Azam Khan.
On 7 April 2019, during the Lok Sabha elections, Azam Khan addressed a public meeting in Rampur where he said people should not fear government officials because they are just salaried employees. He also made remarks about BSP leader Mayawati, saying he had seen pictures of senior officers cleaning her shoes, and claimed that since his party was in an alliance with her, he too could make officials clean his shoes.
Azam Khan then targeted the Rampur collector with abusive language, accusing him of being blind and stubborn, and also attacked the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, calling him a criminal.
The administration recorded his speech on video, and an FIR was filed against Azam Khan. According to the FIR, Azam Khan also said that Prime Minister Modi had created such an environment in the country that it had become difficult for Muslims to live peacefully.
After the 2019 elections, Aunjaneya Singh, DM of Rampur at that time, initiated action against him on the charges of hate speech and since then Azam Khan’s troubles have increased. For the hate speech, the Rampur MP-MLA court sentenced Azam Khan to three years in jail. As a result, he lost his legislative membership in 2022.
SP chief Akhilesh Yadav accused Singh of being close to the BJP and questioned the repeated extensions given to him, though Singh originally came to UP when Yadav himself was CM. The Samajwadi Party has also accused him of carrying out a personal vendetta against Azam Khan.
Not only Azam Khan, Singh also took strong action against his son Abdullah, who had been elected as SP MLA from the Swar Tanda seat in 2017. His rival, Nawab Kazim Ali Khan of BSP challenged the result, saying Abdullah was under 25 years old when he filed his nomination.
When this case came before DM Aunjaneya Singh in 2019, he ordered an investigation. It was found that Abdullah had used a fake age certificate and was indeed below 25 at the time of nomination. The DM sent this report to the Election Commission, which then cancelled Abdullah’s election.
In 2023, Azam Khan was acquitted in the hate speech case by the MP-MLA court. The judge based the acquittal on the statement of the complainant, a government employee, who said he was pressured by the District Magistrate to file the case. In his court statement, Anil Chauhan said, “I lodged the complaint under pressure from the District Election Officer (DM that time).” Sessions Judge Amit Veer Singh of the MP-MLA court overturned the lower court’s three-year sentence. However, Azam Khan is still in jail because of other ongoing cases.
No transfer from same division in 6 years
During his tenure in UP, Singh has held several important posts including: Special Secretary in Irrigation and Water Resources (2015), DM of Bulandshahr (2016), Additional Commissioner in Commercial Tax (2017), DM of Fatehpur, DM of Rampur (2019-2021), and finally Divisional Commissioner of Moradabad (2021). Since 2019, Singh has been posted in the same belt.
As Moradabad commissioner, Singh also faced criticism from the Samajwadi Party during the November 2024 communal violence in Sambhal, which broke out after a court-ordered mosque survey. The SP alleged, he behaved in a biased manner during the violence.
Before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Akhilesh also challenged Singh’s extension before the Election Commission, calling it a violation of service rules.
On condition of anonymity, a senior official in the Chief Minister’s office described Singh as Adityanath’s “blue-eyed boy”. According to the official, “Anjaneya has more access to the CM’s office than many of his colleagues. This is because he is handling important tasks, as the CM is particularly focused on the Rampur-Moradabad division. For the few last years, he has been posted in the same division. There’s a lot to read between the lines here.”
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
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