2 dozen officials ‘gain’, similar number misses out!

Jaipur: The first IAS transfer list of the newly formed government of Rajasthan was released on Friday night after a long wait. Since a ban on transfer of district level officials had come into force, hence it had become important to release the jumbo 75 name transfer list primarily revolving around Collectors and ADMs.

It is notable that the list has been prepared, after a long time, in CS office instead of CMO. New CS Sudhansh Pant and Principal Secretary DoP - Hemant Gera - have played a major role in the list. While two dozen IAS have ‘gained’ through the transfers, about a similar number of officers have not been able to feature in that category.

The ‘gainers’ include Prakash Sharma, Siddharth Sihag, Himansu Gupta, Namit Mehta, Ashish Gupta, Kanaram, Ajay Singh Rathore, gaurav Agrawal, Khushal Yadav, Ravindra Goswami, Utsav Kaushal, Gaurav Saini, Avdhesh Meena, Devendra Kumar, Akshay Godara, Somya Jha, Kanishka Kataria and Saloni Khemka.

On the other hand, the officials who could not score big are Rajendra Shekhawat, Vishawa Mohan Sharma, Narendra Gupta, Anil Agrawal, Rukmani Riyar, MP Meena, Suresh Ola, Ashish Modi, Arun Garg, Babu Lal Goyal, Bachmesh Agrawal, Nilabh Saxena, Saurabh Swami, Om Prakash Bairwa, Sitaram Jat, Jasmeet Sandhu, Ram Prakash and Tara Chand Meena.

On of the notable transfer in the list is that of Sidharth Sihag who has been posted as Joint Secretary in CMO, which is the first permanent posting in CMO. 2012 batch IAS Sidharth has served as Collector of three districts. he has served as Churu Collector for two years and his jump to CMO is being considered a major jump from Churu Colelctorate.

Similarly, 2018 batch officer Kanishka Kataria has been appointed based on his merit and capability. He was all India topper of his batch. He became IAS in his first attempt and had left a hefty paying private job ina foreign country to become IAS. But don’t know why the previous government kept him at an arm’s length. However, his abilities have been recognised and has been given the responsibility of JS - DoP. His father Sanwar Mal Verma is also an IAS.

The transfer of Namit Mehta from post of Collector Pali to Bhilwara, Alok Ranjan’s transfer from Jhalawar Collector to Chittorgarh, LN Mantri’s transfer from Dungarpur to Pali, Gaurav Agrawal from Chittorgarh to Jodhpur and Ravindra Goswami transfer from Bundi to Kota Collector is actually their promotion and is also a certificate of the capabilities of these IAS.

Vishwamohan Sharma had become Kekri Collector after going through much difficulties. although his appointment as kekri collector, right after his stint as Ajmer Collector was not considered to be a right move, but owing to Raghu Sharma’s recommendation, he was appointed as Kekri Collector. Now his post in Kekri is no more as he has been posted in midday meal in Jaipur.

Similarly, the position of Collectors - Anil Agrawal in Dholpur, MP Meena in Kota, Suresh Ola in Sawai Madhopur, Ashish Modi in Bhilwara, Neelabh Saxena in Rajsamand and Saurabh Swami in Sikar - were taken owing to their one sided role in the assembly elections.

Avichal Chaturvedi became Alwar Collector after much deliberations as he wanted to stay in Jaipur owing to personal reasons. Now he has returned back to Jaipur. One section of BJP has still not taken to the transfer list since it considers that a requisite number of officials have not been transferred which will not send a message that the government has changed. They cite the continuation of Collectors in Divisional Headquarters like Jaipur, Udaipur, Bikaner and Ajmer as casein point.