Odisha cadre IPS officer’s ‘cabinet secretariat posting’ axed

Bhubaneswar: The Centre has cancelled Odisha cadre IPS officer Himanshu Kumar Lal’s proposed appointment in the cabinet secretariat. Lal, who was in June allowed by the state government to join in class-1 executive cadre with the cabinet secretariat, has returned and re-joined the state police headquarters.
While Lal refused to comment, a state home department source said his joining in the cabinet secretariat could not materialise because of some social media posts related to his new posting in the central deputation. “There were lot of speculations on social media that he would join the research and analysis wing (RAW) under the cabinet secretariat. Cabinet secretariat, which follows tight protocol and secrecy, took serious note of it and refused to appoint him. During scrutiny prior to his appointment, his joining was cancelled,” a state home department officer said. An official source said the Union ministry of home affairs has given an option to Lal to join in any of the central armed police forces.
The state home department on June 3 issued a notification regarding Lal’s appointment in the cabinet secretariat, a prominent posting in the Centre. In the order, it was written that Lal would serve for four years in the cabinet secretariat. Lal was then the deputy inspector general (north range).
In a related development, 2008-batch IPS officer Satyajit Naik, who had in January gone on central deputation and joined as SP with the national investigation agency (NIA), has been repatriated to the state much before completion of his five-year tenure with the Centre. Additional director general (ADG) Y K Jethwa, who was with the special operation group (SPG) in Delhi, has returned after successful completion of his central deputation. Ritu Arora, who had been serving in the central industrial security force (CISF), also returned from central deputation a few days ago.