Dharam Pal, 5 others vying for Chandigarh RTS panel’s top post

The position became vacant on December 12 when Arun Kumar, a retired 1989-batch Haryana cadre IAS officer, stepped down after being appointed as the chairman of the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA), Gurugram branch

A total of six individuals, including former UT adviser Dharam Pal, have applied for the position of chief commissioner at the Chandigarh Rights to Service Commission (CRSC).

Apart from Dharam Pal, a 1988-batch IAS officer of the AGMUT cadre, two more IAS officers have joined the race — A Venu Prasad, a 1991-batch Punjab cadre officer, and Mahavir Singh, a Haryana cadre officer from the 1989 batch. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The position became vacant on December 12 when Arun Kumar, a retired 1989-batch Haryana cadre IAS officer, stepped down after being appointed as the chairman of the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA), Gurugram branch.

The last date for applying for the post was January 17.

Apart from Dharam Pal, a 1988-batch IAS officer of the AGMUT cadre, two more IAS officers have joined the race — A Venu Prasad, a 1991-batch Punjab cadre officer, and Mahavir Singh, a Haryana cadre officer from the 1989 batch.

Former Punjab Right to Service commissioner Pankaj Kumar and Lt Gen Surinder Singh Mahal (retd) have also entered the fray.

Before Arun Kumar’s appointment in October, the RTS panel’s top post had been vacant since March 21, 2023, after previous commissioner KK Jindal’s retirement. Dharam Pal had been holding the charge in the interim. He retired on October 31, 2023.

The Union ministry of home affairs had extended the Punjab Right to Service Act, 2011, and the Punjab Right to Service (Amended) Act, 2014, to the Union territory of Chandigarh on August 14, 2017.

While ensuring delivery of time-bound services to public, the Act is also aimed at reducing corruption among government officials, and increasing transparency and accountability.

While inviting applications for the RTS panel’s top post in July 2023, this UT administration had modified the “commissioner’s” post to “chief commissioner of CRSC” as per terms and conditions contained under Section 13 and Section 15 of the Act.

Notably, as per Section 13 (3) of the Act, the “commissioner” should be a retired officer of the government of Punjab in the rank and status of a secretary or its equivalent rank and status in any of the services of the state, including officers of all India services from the Punjab cadre, and/or expert in the field of public administration or e-governance with at least 20 years of experience in teaching or administration or from among other eminent public persons.