Madhav Lal is new Chief Secretary

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

SRINAGAR, Jan 14: 1977-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer from Delhi, Mr Madhav Lal, is being relieved from the Central deputation and appointed as new Chief Secretary in Jammu & Kashmir. Presently posted as Additional Secretary and Development Commissioner in Union Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Madhav Lal happens to be the senior most IAS officer in J&K Cadre after the superannuation of Chief Secretary Sham Singh Kapur on 31-01-2011 and his immediate follower Sameul Varghese on 28-02-2011.

Highly placed government sources told Early Times that the State Cabinet, which met today to select the new head of the bureaucracy, considered the names of three of the senior most IAS officers, namely Madhav Lal (1977), Pervez Dewan (1977) and Anil Goswami (1978). The Cabinet finally decided to appoint Mr Madhav Lal as the new Chief Secretary of Jammu & Kashmir. Sources revealed that his order of appointment would be issued shortly after Chief Minister’s routine conversation with the Prime Minister and the Cabinet Secretary in New Delhi. He will be joining as Chief Secretary in Jammu on February 1^st.

Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah, confirmed to this journalist that the Cabinet decided to pick up the senior most official who was none other than Madhav Lal after the retirement of Kapur at the end of current month and Varghese at the end of next month. He said that he was personally interested in maintaining the sanctity of seniority, though merit and suitability had also a bearing on this selection. His order of appointment would be issued shortly.

With today’s deliberations in the Cabinet, all speculations have been set at rest with regard to granting extension to Mr Kapur. It has simultaneously proved wrong speculations in a section of media that 1978-batch IAS officer and a state subject, Mohammad Iqbal Khanday, was being appointed as the new head of bureaucracy in Jammu & Kashmir. Presently posted as Principal Secretary to Government, Department of Agriculture Production, Khanday happens to be junior, in ascending order, to Pankaj Jain (1978), Anil Goswami (1978), Pervez Dewan (1977) and Madhav Lal (1977).

Born on 4-06-1955, Madhav Lal has post-graduation in Physics and Public Administration. He joined IAS on 12-07-1977 and was allotted J&K cadre. During his 33-year service, he has held key positions in the state administration. In Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah’s government (1996-2002), he served as Commissioner-Secretary General Administration Department. Later he functioned as Financial Commissioner Revenue, Principal Secretary Forest, Principal Secretary Planning & Development Department and Department of Ladakh Affairs. He remained briefly posted as Official on Special Duty in the office of Resident Commissioner in New Delhi.

All through his career in J&K and a couple of Central deputations, Madhav Lal has enjoyed the reputation of a meticulously honest public servant, though quite a number of Ministers in different governments did not seem to be impressed with his speed of processing matters in the past.

Madhav Lal shall stay in service till 30-06-2015.With his appointment as Chief Secretary, prospects of a number of senior IAS officers reaching the top of bureaucracy in J&K would become automatically bleak. They include prospective contenders like Pervez Dewan (Date of Retirement: 31-10-2014), Anil Goswami (Date of Retirement: 31-01-2015) and Pankaj Jain (Date of Retirement: 30-09-2014). Chief Secretary S S Kapur, Chairman J&K Special Tribunal Sameul Varghese, Madhav Lal, Pervez Dewan, Anil Goswami and Pankaj Jain are currently designated as Financial Commissioners---top most rung in the state bureaucracy. Madhav, Dewan and Goswani are currently on Central Deputation.

After the retirement of Madhav Lal on 30-06-2015, none other than Principal Secretary Dr Arun Kumar (1979 batch) and Principal Secretary Mr B R Sharma (1984) will be left with the prospects of reaching the top slot of Chief Secretary in J&K. They will be reaching superannuation on 31-12-2016 and 30-04-2020 respectively. Potential competitors Iqbal Khanday (1978), Mrs Sonali Kumar (1979), P G Dhar Chakravarty, Dr R K Jeerath, A K Angurana and Khursheed Ahmed Ganai will be retiring from service on 30-11-2015, 30-11-2015, 30-10-2013, 30-04-2012, 30-04-2016 and 30-10-2015 respectively.

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