Union home secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla gets 1-year extension, his third in post

NEW DELHI: Union home secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla was on Friday given a third extension for a year, an order of the personnel ministry said.
A 1984-batch IAS officer, Bhalla was appointed home secretary in August 2019. He was to retire in November 2020 after attaining 60 years of age. His tenure was first extended on October 17, 2020 till August 22, 2021. Bhalla's tenure was extended by one more year on August 12 last year and was to end on Monday.
The order said the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved extension in service to Bhalla as home secretary for a period of one year up to August 22, 2023, in relaxation of FR 56(d) and Rule 16(1A) of the All India Services (Death-cum-Retirement Benefits) Rules, 1958.
Under the rules, besides the home secretary, others who can be granted extension beyond the age limit are the foreign secretary, defence secretary and heads of Intelligence Bureau and R&AW, India's external intelligence agency. The service rules have provisions related to extension in service of such officers beyond the age of 60 years in "public interest" for such "period or periods as it may deem proper on a case-to-case basis for reasons to be recorded in writing".