Govt mulls extension to Chief Secretary?

The State Government is likely to grant three months’ extension to Chief Secretary Rajbala Verma owing to her ‘outstanding’ work in holding events like Momentum Jharkhand Summit and providing an effective leadership to the State bureaucracy. The CS is scheduled to retire on February 28 otherwise.

Highly placed sources in the government revealed that the CMO is considering the extension to the CS also because of the fourth ground breaking ceremony of Momentum Jharkhand going to take place in April this year. The 1983 batch IAS officer has been instrumental in organising mega investment meets in the State.

Notably, Verma and Principal Secretary to the Governor, SK Satpathy are scheduled to retire on February 28 this year and with a number of senior officers of Jharkhand cadre presently serving on Central deputation the government is left with fewer options for the top post.

“It is upon the top leadership to take the call but as present there are fair chances that they would consider a service extension to her given the fact that she has steered away from controversies that has arisen recently. More so, because the government doesn’t want to disturb the momentum that the State has picked up lately,” said a senior official requesting not to be named.

The CS is also leading another big event – The Jharkhand IT Summit – scheduled to be held on February 25 in Ranchi, where more than 5000 professionals will be awarded with certificates. The summit will be attended by who’s who of the information Technology world including foreign delegates and Union Ministers.

Notably, the Opposition and even BJP leaders like Saryu Roy have strongly opposed the continuation of the CS citing various charges that have been leveled against her. The government had also served her a show cause recently and a letter from the Union government has also directed action against her and other senior officers of the State.