Gurugram: Haryana chief secretary Sanjeev Kaushal made a quiet exit Wednesday as he retired Wednesday without attending office, a development that left a section of civil servants at unease.
The 1986 IAS officer was on leave from 15 March to 30 July, right after the BJP government under CM Nayab Saini gave the charge of chief secretary to T.V.S.N Prasad, then additional chief secretary for revenue and home.
His last working day, 31 July, was a gazetted holiday (Shaheed Udham Singh Diwas).
Prasad, a 1988 batch IAS officer, was handling the responsibility of the chief secretary as additional charge in Kaushal’s absence.
A customary dinner to be held Wednesday in Kaushal’s honour by the IAS Officers Association was cancelled citing a forecast of inclement weather.
Kaushal had assumed the post of chief secretary on 30 November, 2021. A stickler of rules, he was known for his cheerful and soft-spoken nature. He was admired for his ability to work as a team member with both junior and senior officers.
The retired bureaucrat’s elder brother Sarvesh Kaushal previously served as chief secretary of Punjab, while his father-in-law B.R.Ojha held the same position in Haryana. His father, the late Baldev Kaushal, served as engineer-in-chief in the Haryana government.
“Kaushal became the victim of dirty politics, which is prevalent in the bureaucracy in Haryana. He enjoyed a clean image and was always positive in his approach. He was a role model for his junior officer,” said an IAS officer with over a decade of experience in the state bureaucracy.
The officer said that Kaushal was a mentor to many young officers.
Another civil servant said that politics was always there in bureaucracy in Haryana, but the extent of it in the past 10 years is really bad.
“During the previous regimes, the CMs used to have a grip over governance and could control the bureaucracy. However, the BJP governments after 2014 depend too much on bureaucracy. This has given new dimensions to intra-bureaucracy politics as stakes are high for those aspiring for covetable posts,” the civil servant told ThePrint.
Another IAS officer with experience of nearly two decades told The Print that having worked with the former chief secretary, he always believed that Kaushal could have reached the post of Union cabinet secretary.
“I know that several combinations and permutations work when it comes to the selection of a cabinet secretary. Sanjeev Kaushal had all those qualities to reach the top post. First, he entered the services at 22, allowing him to reach the top and remain there for a long time. Secondly, he was extremely capable. He could speak English, Hindi, Punjabi, and Tamil with equal fluency. And, he was very dignified,” this officer said.
“The best thing I learnt during my stint under him was to never go underprepared for a task. It is very important to go through every minute detail in the file before discussion, particularly because the decisions we make impact many lives,” he added.
Another important aspect of Kaushal’s personality was that he always stood for fellow officers, this civil servant said.
“I cannot say that he succeeded every time, particularly in the past couple of years when the atmosphere remained toxic during which several IAS officers were targeted. However, he tried his best to ensure that no innocent officer was targeted for extraneous reasons,” said the officer.
Both Congress’s Bhupinder Singh Hooda and BJP’s Anil Vij refused to comment on the circumstances leading to Kaushal’s exit but they were effusive in praising him.
“I always found him to be an officer with a positive approach to issues. He was one of the best bureaucrats Haryana had seen,” Hooda told ThePrint.
Sanjeev Kaushal was a very good, responsive and knowledgeable officer, Vij told The Print, adding that his replacement in March and his proceeding on long leave came as a shock and surprise. “He was an upright officer who was well conversant with his work.”
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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