Akhil Arora & Hemant Gera set new records in extended tenure
Jaipur: The average tenure of IAS officers on a single post in recent years has been less than two years. In many cases, there have been several transfers in two years. However, there are notable exceptions to this trend. Two senior IAS officers currently stand out for their extended tenures, and they are Akhil Arora and Hemant Gera.
Akhil Arora, from the 1993 batch, has served as Principal Secretary of the Finance Department since November 1, 2020, and was promoted to Additional Chief Secretary in January 2023. As of August 31, he has been in this role for an impressive 3 years and 10 months, setting a record for the longest tenure in this position.
Previously, only a few officers have held the post for extended periods, and they are CK Mathew (3 years, 2 months), Rajeev Mehrshi (2 years, 3 months), Adarsh Kishor Saxena (2 years, 6 months), and Prem Singh Mehra (2 years, 9 months).
Akhil Arora has two more all-time records to his name. He has prepared the state budget four times and has earned the trust of two different governments, handling the Treasury’s responsibilities. Both Congress Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and BJP Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma trusted Arora with the crucial role of managing the state’s finances.
This level of trust and responsibility indicates that Arora possesses unique qualities that set him apart in the realm of governance.
On the other hand, Hemant Gera (1997 batch) has set a new record of holding the command of the Department of Personnel (DoP) for the longest time.
He came to this department on October 8, 2020, and as of now, has played long innings of an impressive 3 years and 11 months. Previously, Mukesh Sharma and Khemraj Chaudhary held the reins of DoP for 3 years and 9 months and 3 years and 2 months, respectively.
The interesting fact is that both Akhil Arora and Hemant Gera are at the crease and no one can tell how long these two ‘players’ will keep batting.
It is noteworthy to mention two exceptional records in the history of the IAS cadre regarding long tenures in the same position. Praveen Gupta (1995 batch) holds a significant record for serving as Secretary of Finance (Revenue) for a continuous period of five years, from December 13, 2013 to December 19, 2018.
Going back, VBL Mathur, in the 1990s, set a remarkable precedent by serving as Chief Secretary for six years, from March 1986 to January 1992. During his tenure, Mathur earned the trust of three different Chief Ministers. Given the evolving dynamics of administration, it seems likely that hardly anyone will be able to break VBL Mathur’s record in the near future.
