Search for New Home secretary begins
With
the diminishing prospects of Ajay Bhalla getting a fourth extension
as Union Home Ministry, a search has begun for his successor. Though
there is no dearth of officers who think that Bhalla may get an
unprecedented fourth term in office this being an election year, many
feel that it may not be possible considering the tough stand taken by
the Supreme Court on repeated extensions given to Enforcement
Director Sanjay Mishra. Reports emanating from North Block suggest
that a search has already begun for a new Home Secretary which is not
decided merely on the basis of seniority and given two years tenure
irrespective of his date of retirement. There are at least five
service officers of the 1987 batch and seven of 1988 batch in the
race, names of Apurva Chandra, Secretary, Ministry of Information &
Broadcasting and Culture Secretary Govind Mohan are being mentioned.
Chandra is IAS officer of 1988 batch of Maharashtra cadre, is a front runner for the Home Secretary's post followed by Govind Mohan, Secretary, Culture and Manoj Joshi, Secretary, Urban Development. But Apurva Chandra's tenure in the Defence Ministry handling acquisition of armaments for the forces was highly appreciated. Thereafter, he was shifted to the Labour ministry where he framed the four Labour Codes, a key part of Labour reforms in the country. In the I&B Ministry, he is the man behind the banning of questionable content on social media and keeping a close watch on social media platforms. It may be interesting to mention that Ajay Bhalla created a record of sorts being the only officer to hold the Home Secretary's post for four year during the past 60 years. He was appointed as home secretary in august 22, 2019 for a period of two years and was given more extensions. L P Singh, an IAS officer, remained Home Secretary for seven years from September 1964 to January 1971. Thereafter, there was no one who occupied office for 4 years.
