Gurugram: The Haryana government has appointed Anurag Rastogi, a 1990-batch IAS officer, as the state’s new Chief Secretary (CS) after incumbent Vivek Joshi was named as Election Commissioner. Official orders for Rastogi’s appointment were issued late Wednesday.
Rastogi is placed at third spot in the Haryana IAS Officers Gradation list, with Sudhir Rajpal and Sumita Misra, also from the 1990-batch, standing at first and second place, respectively.
The Haryana government has appointed Rastogi as CS in supersession of the other two officers.
This is also the second time that Rastogi has been appointed as CS in less than four months. Earlier, he was appointed to the post on 31 October, 2024, but held it for less than a week as his orders mentioned that he would remain CS till Vivek Joshi joined duty following his repatriation from central deputation.
Rastogi, originally from Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, is known for his clean image and good rapport with the government. After completing his IAS training, he was first posted as sub-divisional magistrate in Narnaul on 17 August, 1992. He later served as additional deputy commissioner and was the deputy commissioner of Panipat and Hisar. Over the years, he has held several key positions, including those of director and principal secretary in various departments. In 2021, he was elevated to the rank of Additional Chief Secretary (ACS).
Last year, three IAS officers of the 1990 batch—Rastogi, Ankur Gupta (since retired) and Raja Sekhar Vundru—had moved a representation to the Haryana government seeking revision in the seniority list. They sought to be placed ahead of Rajpal and Misra since both had been transferred to Haryana from other states while the former three were from the Haryana IAS cadre itself.
While the government is yet to take a decision on the representation, it has appointed Rastogi as the new CS, ignoring Rajpal and Misra’s seniority.
An IAS officer who retired from a senior position in the state bureaucracy told ThePrint Thursday that governments in Haryana have generally followed the seniority while appointing a new CS. However, this is not the first time that some officer has been superseded.
“In April 1991, the state government led by Om Prakash Chautala ignored the claim of B.S. Ojha (1959-batch IAS officer) and appointed M.C. Gupta (1960 batch) as Chief Secretary. However, the Chautala government fell that month and the new government led by Bhajan Lal appointed Ojha as Chief Secretary on 24 June, 1991,” he said.
“Similarly, in August 1994, the Bhajan Lal-led Congress government ignored the claim of 1961 batch IAS officers Amalendu Banerjee and G.V. Gupta and appointed H.D. Bansal (1962 batch) as Chief Secretary. More recently, the Manohar Lal Khattar-led BJP government appointed Vijai Vardhan (1985-batch officer) as Chief Secretary on 1 October, 2020, superseding Sunil Gulati of the 1984 batch. The government, however, redesignated Gulati as Special Chief Secretary,” he added.
Hemant Kumar, an RTI activist and an advocate in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, said four other IAS officers from the 1990-batch in the Haryana cadre—Rajpal, Misra, Anand Mohan Sharan and Vundru—may now be designated as Special Chief Secretaries instead of their current rank of ACS.
He pointed out that the basic salary of both an Additional Chief Secretary and Special Chief Secretary is the same as that of Chief Secretary.
According to Kumar, since several IAS officers from the 1991 to 1995 batches are also currently holding the rank of ACS in Haryana, it would not be appropriate to retain the four 1990-batch officers in the ACS rank, especially when one of their batchmates, Anurag Rastogi, has now been appointed as Chief Secretary of the state. Moreover, according to administrative principles, it would not be appropriate for officers of the same batch to report to one of their own batchmates.
Kumar cited the example of Punjab, where Anirudh Tiwari (1990 batch), Sarvjit Singh (1992 batch) and R.P. Srivastava (1992 batch) have been designated as Special Chief Secretaries while K.A.P. Sinha of the 1992 batch is Chief Secretary.
The retired IAS officer mentioned earlier, however, said that Haryana may or may not redesignate the other officers of 1990 batch as Special Chief Secretaries.
“Though Punjab follows this tradition, Haryana has not been doing so in the past except in the case of Sunil Gulati who was redesignated Special Chief Secretary in 2020,” the retired IAS officer said.
The seniority dispute in Haryana, which first arose ahead of retirement of 1988-batch IAS officer TVSN Prasad and led to a debate on the second position in the seniority list of 1990-batch IAS officers, has persisted among the officers.
Post the representation made by the three IAS officers last year, then CS Prasad had summoned five officers for a personal hearing regarding this issue, but no final decision was made.
The Haryana cadre’s gradation list has consistently placed Sudhir Rajpal at the top for the last 34 years, followed by Sumita Misra.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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