Is the Raj IAS cadre ‘disappointed’ over the Centre’s ‘apathy’?

Jaipur: When IAS officers from Rajasthan are not given their due in the Central government, it leads to immense disappointment in the state cadre. The recent incident is of 1996 batch IAS Rajesh Yadav, who is currently serving as Joint Secretary in the Union Government. His empanelment to the post of Additional Secretary is due for the past two years.

On Saturday, the Appointment Committee of Cabinet (ACC) issued the empanelment orders for 16 IAS officers from across the nation, in which officials from 1996-1998 have been included. However, Rajesh Yadav’s name did not feature in this list as well and considering that he is serving on the post of Joint Secretary for the past two years, it is surprising as well as disappointing that he has not been considered for empanelment.

Similarly, empanelment for the post of Additional Secretary is overdue for 1996 batch IAS Dinesh Kumar also, who is posted in Jaipur. He has served at the Centre from 2015-2019 as Joint Secretary. Prior to these officials, the 2006 batch officer Gaurav Goyal has not been empanelled for the post of Joint Secretary, whereas, officials of 2007 batch have been considered for the empanelment.

Furthermore, 1993 batch IAS Sandeep Verma is awaiting a call from the Centre for the post of Additional Secretary, whereas, the 2005 batch IAS officers have already become Additional Secretary in December 2021.

In fact, doors have closed upon four IAS from Rajasthan cadre to head to the Centre. These are Praveen Gupta, Shikhar Agrawal, Ajitabh Sharma and Subir Kumar. Although the State government provided NOC to these officials, yet the Centre didn’t call them for the post of Joint Secretary, whereas, Shikhar Agrawal has even worked for five years (from March 2009 to January 2014) at the Centre.