On Thursday, the Himachal Pradesh government appointed senior IAS officer Ram Subhag Singh as the chief secretary replacing Anil Kumar Khachi who was made the state election commissioner, prompting the opposition Congress to stage a walkout in the Assembly in protest. The Congress alleged that a Himachal Pradesh resident was removed from the post of chief secretary to elevate an “outsider”.
The Himachal government had appointed Anil Kumar Khachi, a 1986 batch IAS officer, as the Chief Secretary in December 2019.
At the same time, amid speculations being made regarding the appointment of the new Chief Secretary 1987 batch bureaucrat, Ram Subhag Singh(1987) has been appointed the new chief of Himachal bureaucracy.
After the question hours, Leader of Opposition Mukesh Agnihotri raised the issue of the alleged transfer of chief secretary Anil Khachi stating that amid the assembly session Government is transferring the state’s top bureaucrats. Opposition termed this removal unceremonial and unprecedented.
Agnihotri said that the Jai Ram Government in three years of rule has created a record in history, and would become the first Chief Minister to have six chief secretaries.
“Earlier IAS VC Farka, who was also a Himachali officer, was removed, after that, Vineet Chaudhary, BK Agarwal, and Shrikant Baldi. Anil Khachi is now the sixth chief secretary who is being changed.”
Congress legislators made an uproar and started raising slogans. Agnihotri said the chief minister had talked about Himachal and Himchaliyat while paying tributes to former CM Yashwant Singh Parmar on his 115th birth anniversary on Wednesday, but a day after he removed an HP resident from the topmost administrative post to pave the way for the appointment of an “outsider”
Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said that it is the prerogative of the government as to when it feels appropriate to change or appoint officers according to the rules. I would not take permission from the opposition before transferring and appointing an officer, he added.
He further added, that officers were also being transferred by the Congress regime and they never had come into the house to seek permissions.
Chief minister accused Congress that their previous government have ignored the seniority while appointing chief secretaries
After the Congress walked out, Chief Minister said that the Government had decided after taking consent of officers.Thakur said that Khachi has been removed from the post to appoint him to the constitutional post for five years while only one year and nine months were left in his current tenure.