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Dharam Pal is the new UT adviser
He replaces Manoj Parida, who heads on central deputation as chairman of the National Authority of Chemical Weapons
Dharam Pal, a 1988-batch Indian Administrative Services officer and an alumnus of Punjab Engineering College, is the new adviser to the administrator of the Union Territory of Chandigarh.
Belonging to the Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram-Union Territory (AGMUT) cadre, his transfer orders were issued by the home ministry on Monday. He will join office on Wednesday.
“Consequent upon repatriation from central deputation, Dharam Pal is hereby posted in Chandigarh as adviser with immediate effect,” the notification said.
Before his present assignment, he was additional secretary in the department of fertilisers under the Union ministry of chemicals and fertilisers, New Delhi.
He replaces Manoj Parida, who was transferred to Delhi on June 17, six months before the completion of his three-year tenure. Parida will take over as the chairman of the National Authority of Chemical Weapons Convention.
‘Covid management top priority’
Health sector in general and Covid-19 management in specific will remain the new UT adviser’s top priority.
“My focus will remain on devising a strategy to manage the next Covid wave successfully,” said Dharam Pal on Monday.
Education and infrastructure improvement will be the other priority areas, he said.
Belonging to Banga in Hoshiarpur district of Punjab, Dharam Pal completed bachelor of engineering in electronics and telecommunications from PEC in 1985 before doing masters of technology in computer controls and instrumentation from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.
“Chandigarh is the first planned city of India with a rich cultural heritage. I have very fond memories of the city when I was studying at PEC,” he said, adding that this city connect and the fact that he belongs to the region will prove to be an asset in solving the UT’s different issues.
Was at loggerheads with AAP govt in Delhi
In the past three decades, Dharam Pal has served on deputation with the Union government, on different positions in the Delhi government and also had a stint in Kosovo as the civil affairs officer.
During his tenure as the principal secretary (home), Delhi, he found himself at loggerheads with the Arvind Kejriwal government on the issue of appointment of a joint police commissioner as the head of the anti-corruption branch.
After the AAP government removed him from the home department, he refused to step down, stating that he had simply followed the transaction of business rules by issuing the lieutenant governor’s directions. The Union government had backed him on the issue, though he was shortly thereafter transferred to the department of fertilisers at the Centre.
