NEW DELHI: Sudhansh Pant, an IAS officer of the 1991 batch, was appointed chief secretary of Rajasthan on Sunday, barely hours after he was suddenly repatriated to his home cadre. This came a day after 1984 batch IAS officer D S Mishra got a six-month extension as Uttar Pradesh chief secretary.
There is speculation over the Centre sending another top IAS officer from Delhi to MP to become the new chief secretary.Currently, Veera Rana, a 1998 batch IAS officer, is holding additional charge of chief secretary in the state where BJP came back to office with more seats in the recently-held assembly elections. Rana, the second woman chief secretary of MP, is due for retirement in March 2024.
Meanwhile, Pant’s repatriation and appointment has stumped many, considering he was seventh in the order of seniority among IAS officers of the Rajasthan cadre.
For Pant, it is the third successive appointment in a year. He was brought to the Centre in October 2022 as OSD in the shipping ministry and was later made secretary. Six months later, he was shifted to the health ministry as secretary.
Senior bureaucrats said they were expecting a reshuffle at the secretary level in the near future.