Delhi govt asks Centre to appoint PK Gupta as chief secretary

Naresh Kumar, a 1987-batch IAS officer, was appointed Delhi’s chief secretary in April 2022 and is due to retire later this year.

The Delhi government has requested the Centre to appoint Praveen Kumar Gupta, a 1989-batch Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officer, as the Capital’s chief secretary and replace the incumbent, Naresh Kumar, who took charge of the position just over a year ago, said officials aware of the matter, in what is the latest attempt by the state’s elected administration to stamp its authority on the city’s bureaucratic machinery.

Hours after the judgment on Thursday, Kejriwal stressed that his government would effect major changes in the bureaucracy. (HT Archive)

“Through the lieutenant governor of Delhi, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has requested the Centre to appoint PK Gupta the new chief secretary. The file has been sent to the Centre. Gupta will replace Naresh Kumar if the Centre considers the request,” said a Delhi government official aware of the matter.

Kumar, a 1987-batch IAS officer, was appointed Delhi’s chief secretary in April 2022 and is due to retire later this year.

The move comes a week after the Supreme Court emphasised the elected Delhi government’s power to appoint or transfer administrative officers within the Capital in all departments, except those relating to land, police and public order.

Neither Kumar nor Gupta responded to requests for comment.

To be sure, the Union ministry of home affairs (MHA) appoints Delhi’s chief secretary, since the Capital does not have a dedicated IAS cadre of its own, and relies on officers from the AGMUT (Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram and Union Territory) cadre.

Though the top court’s ruling handed the state government the power to pick or remove its officers, it is still unclear if this control extends to selecting the Capital’s chief secretary, especially since the city’s top bureaucrat — as the head of the administrative machinery — deals in issues that also concern land, police and public order.

Hence, while the Delhi government can request MHA to appoint a specific person as chief secretary, there is little clarity on whether the ministry is bound to accept it.

Still, the Delhi government can appoint largely all other officers in the Capital, provided it picks people already deputed in the city.

Hours after the judgment on Thursday, Kejriwal stressed that his government would effect major changes in the bureaucracy and remove officers in “redundant posts” and those who had sought to “sabotage” the elected administration’s programmes.

Since then, the state has sought to mould in its image a bureaucracy that was largely shaped by the centrally appointed lieutenant governor. On Thursday, the government ordered the replacement of services secretary Ashish More with AK Singh. Then, on Monday, it divested the state vigilance department’s special secretary, YVVJ Rajasekhar, of all duties and ordered him to hand over all files, accusing him of corruption and extortion.

Gupta is currently posted as the additional chief secretary of the Delhi government’s general administration department. He also served as the commissioner of the erstwhile North Delhi Municipal Corporation from 2012 to 2017.

Meanwhile, the Civil Services Board (CSB) on Wednesday cleared More’s transfer and appointed AK Singh as his replacement.

A Delhi government official said the CSB’s decision was forwarded to the lieutenant governor VK Saxena for his stamp, a largely ceremonial move.

“The LG is bound to put his stamp on the CSB decision, after which the services department will issue an order formalising the transfer and posting of the officers,” said the official.