PATNA: The state’s top three senior-most bureaucrats—chief secretary Deepak Kumar, development commissioner Arun Kumar Singh and chairman-cum-member the board of revenue Tripurari Sharan, are scheduled to retire in the next eight months.
While the chief secretary, a 1984 batch IAS officer, is scheduled to retire on February 28, the second top bureaucrat the development commissioner (1985 batch) on August 31. Singh’s batch-mate Sharan is scheduled to hang up his boots on June 30.
They are among 28 Bihar cadre IAS officers who are scheduled to retire in the current calendar year. Of the 28 officers, six are in the chief secretary rank, one in the secretary rank, 11 in the special secretary rank and the rest 10 in the joint secretary rank.
The chief secretary completed 60 years, the age of retirement, on February 29 last year. But he was given two extensions of six months each by the Centre at the recommendation of the Nitish Kumar-led coalition government. He is now scheduled to retire on February 28 this year.
Other three chief secretary-rank IAS officers who will be retiring in 2021 are Ravikant, currently posted as secretary, food and public distribution department in the Union ministry of consumer affairs, food and public distribution, Ravi Mittal, secretary, Union ministry of information and broadcasting and ELSN Bala Prasad, currently posted as special secretary to the President of India at the Rashtrapati Bhawan.
While Ravikant (1984 batch) and Bala Prasad (1986) will be retiring on June 30, Mittal (1986) on September 30. The trio is currently posted in New Delhi on central deputation.
Other prominent IAS officers who are currently serving in the state government and will be retiring in the next four months are divisional commissioner, Darbhanga, Radheshyam Sah (retirement date March 31), state’s cane commissioner Arshad Aziz (April 30), the urban development and housing department’s special secretary Abhay Raj (January 31), the home department’s special secretary Ishwar Chandra Sinha (February 28), the secretary, board of revenue Surendra Jha (February 28), the director statistics Rajeshwar Prasad Singh (January 31).
Currently, altogether 200 IAS officers are on the state government’s rolls against a sanctioned strength of 342. “Of the 200 officers, 168 are working with the state government while the rest 32 are either on the central or inter-state deputation. Of the 168 IAS officers currently posted in the state, 12 (of 2019 batch) are under probation period,” a senior officer of the general administration department told TOI on Saturday.