After Being Moved Out as Finance Secy, Garg Seeks Early Retirement

Ajay Bhalla will have a fixed two-year tenure till August 2021 if appointed as the union home secretary.

Ajay Kumar Bhalla (left), who is likely to be appointed the next Home Secretary and SC Garg, the outgoing Finance Secretary.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

A day after he was shifted from the high profile Ministry of Finance to the Power Ministry, senior bureaucrat Subhash Chandra Garg on Thursday, 25 July, applied for voluntary retirement from service, PTI reported.

Garg, was the senior-most bureaucrat in the Finance Ministry, in charge of the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), and was designated the Finance Secretary.

However, in a surprise move, he was named Power Secretary in an order issued late on Wednesday.

The Power Ministry is considered to be of a lower profile than the Ministry of Finance.

As DEA Secretary, he was in charge of fiscal policy, RBI-related matters, and was closely involved in the preparation of Union Budget.

The shift came just a day after parliamentary procedure for approval of Modi 2.0 government's maiden Union Budget for 2019-20 was completed.

Garg was replaced by Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) Secretary Atanu Chakraborty in a major bureaucratic reshuffle.

WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT GARG APPLYING FOR VOLUNTARY RETIREMENT

It was not immediately clear when Garg submitted his voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) application to the government. It was also not known if the government would accept the application.

If he hadn't applied for VRS, he would have retired from government service at the end of October 2020, on attaining of 60 years of age.

Sources said Garg came to his office in the North Block – the seat of Finance Ministry – in the morning, but left after noon.

WHO IS SC GARG?

A 1983-batch IAS officer of Rajasthan cadre, Garg came to the centre in 2014 and was appointed Executive Director in the World Bank where he stayed till 2017, when he was appointed DEA Secretary in June 2017.

In December 2018, he was elevated as the Finance Secretary after the retirement of Hasmukh Adhia.

OTHER MAJOR RESHUFFLES

Power Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla is all set to become the new Home Secretary with the government appointing him Officer on Special Duty in the high-profile ministry on Wednesday, 25 July.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi cleared Bhalla's appointment as OSD in the ministry with immediate effect.

The 1984-batch Assam Meghalaya cadre IAS officer may succeed incumbent Rajiv Gauba, who will demit office on 31 August, on his superannuation.

Even though the order did not mention that Bhalla will be the next home secretary, according to convention, an OSD is appointed for smooth transition of the charge from the incumbent, officials said.

Bhalla will have a fixed two-year tenure till August 2021 if appointed as the Union home secretary.

Member (Finance), Digital Communications Commission, Anuradha Mitra was appointed Secretary, Department of Official Language.

NEW SECRETARIES ON THE BLOCK

Besides these officers, eight 1986-batch IAS officers were made secretaries in various departments.

• Anil Kumar Khachi from Himachal Pradesh cadre will be the new Secretary, Disinvestment to succeed Chakraborty.
• Anshu Prakash, from UT cadre, will be the Secretary, Department of Telecommunication.
• West Bengal cadre RS Shukla will be the Secretary, Parliamentary Affairs.
• Ravi Capoor, from Assam Meghalaya cadre, was appointed Secretary, Textiles.
• Atul Chaturvedi from same cadre will be the Secretary, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, the order said.
• Gujarat cadre officer P D Vaghela will be the Secretary in Department of Pharmaceutical.

The ACC also cleared in-situ upgrade of 12 IAS officers of 1986 batch to the level of Special Secretary in the rank and pay of Secretary, as a measure personal to them, by temporarily upgrading the post held by them, the order said.

(With inputs from PTI)