For the last two years, charge of Home Secretary given additionally in Haryana administration

Rajiv Arora, who holds the portfolio of Additional Chief Secretary (ACS), in the Health Department of Haryana, was given the additional charge of Home Secretary ten months ago and since then, he is serving as the ACS of the Home department. It is pertinent to mention that the charge of Home Secretary in Haryana has been given additionally continuously for the last two years. If we look back, it comes out that four senior IAS officers have been in charge of the post for additional periods. Arora, who holds the charge presently is also serving as Nodal officer, Covid-19 task force. Thus, it indicates that bearing several responsibilities at such a large scale would undoubtedly affect the departmental working.

It is pertinent to mention that before Rajiv Arora, senior IAS officer Vijay Vardhan, who holds the portfolio of the Chief Secretary, was serving as home secretary in addition to his other duties. Prior to him, senior IAS Navraj Sandhu was bearing the responsibility for a period of four months. After that, Rajesh Khullarprincipal then secretary to the Chief Minister had been given the charge additionally for one month.In continuation to this, Arora is in the eye of the storm as Home Minister Anil Vij is not satisfied with his work these days, and that has augmented the plights of the Home Secretary. Following the same, Vij opined many times that the charge should be taken back from Arora as he continues to bear other huge responsibilities.

Regarding the same, expert and a lawyer in Punjab and Haryana High court, Hemant Kumar, said that giving the charge of home secretary to any IAS officer additionally affects the working of the government along with many departments.

It is pertinent to mention that the Home Department covers a string of several wings including prison, criminal investigation, and justice administration.