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Punjab: Mann govt appoints Vijay Kumar Janjua as new chief secy
1989-batch IAS officer Vijay Kumar Janjua was appointed as the new chief secy by the AAP govt in Punjab on Tuesday. Janjua replaces Anirudh Tewari, a 1990-batch IAS officer, who has been posted as director general, Mahatma Gandhi State Institute of Public Administration, relieving Jaspreet Talwar
The Punjab government on Tuesday appointed 1989-batch IAS officer Vijay Kumar Janjua as the new chief secretary. Janjua replaces Anirudh Tewari, a 1990-batch IAS officer, who has been posted as director general, Mahatma Gandhi State Institute of Public Administration, relieving Jaspreet Talwar.
As chief secretary, Janjua will also hold the charge of principal secretary, department of personnel and vigilance, reads the order. Tewari’s removal comes just a day after the state government appointed Gaurav Yadav as the officiating director general of police (DGP) after the incumbent VK Bhawra proceeded on leave on being asked to step down.
In replacing Tewari, Janjua has superseded four IAS officers, including Arun Goel (1985), Vini Mahajan (1987), Ravneet Kaur (1988) and Anjali Bhawra (1988). Goel, Mahajan and Bhawra are on central deputation.
Tewari, who has almost five years of service left, was appointed to the post by the previous Charanjit Singh Channi-led Congress government, superseding six officers senior to him. Janjua was earlier posted as special chief secretary, jails, and in addition special chief secretary, elections.
Prior to that, he also headed the revenue and labour departments. Janjua was mired in a controversy earlier when during his posting as director, industries, he was arrested by the state vigilance bureau in November 2009 for allegedly accepting ₹2-lakh bribe from a Ludhiana industrialist. A case was registered and he was placed under suspension.
The then Akali government gave the prosecution sanction. However, in January 2015, the Mohali trial court directed the SVB to get prosecution sanction from the central government since he was an IAS officer. Janjua was later reinstated by the state government. In the absence of sanction for prosecution from the Centre, the Punjab government in 2018 decided not to further pursue the case with it and gave him a “clean chit”. Janjua, who did his schooling at Pathankot, studied BTech (Electronics) at Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh. During service, he did LLB degree from Panjab University and then pursued MBA with specialisation in finance from IGNOU, New Delhi, and MA in International Development Policies from Duke University, USA.
Ajoy Sharma gets finance and taxation
The state government also gave Ajoy Sharma, secretary, health and family welfare, the additional charge of secretary, finance, and in addition financial commissioner, taxation. He replaces KAP Sinha, who has been posted as additional chief secretary, food processing, jails and elections. Kumar Rahul, secretary employment generation and training, has been given the additional charge of secretary, general administration and coordination, relieving Rajat Agarwal of the additional charge.
