After West Bengal, Is Punjab Turning Into ‘Graveyard’ For IAS Officers?

A senior official posted in the state told The Secretariat that officers belonging to All India Services (AISs) are feeling choked with apparent career anxiety in view of their perceived sense of administrative paralysis and interference of extra-constitutional authority in day-to-day affairs.

According to the officials, nearly a dozen IAS officers have applied for the NOC to go on central deputation and are waiting for a green signal for the past 2-3 months. Prominent among the IAS officers, who applied for the NOC include Tejveer Singh (1994), Dilip Kumar (1995), S Awhad Nilkanth (1999), Alaknanda Dayal (2000), Zade Vijay Namdeorao (2002) and a few others. All of them are eagerly waiting for the state government’s nod.

More to these, there are several IAS officers including Kirpal Singh, Puneet Goel, KP Brar, Pramjit Singh and Paramvir Singh have been put on wait for posting for more than 5-7 months.

Sources said, the officers, who have applied for the NOC, are not only concerned about their current postings, they feel that if they do not go on central deputation would jeopardise the prospect of them being empanelled as Additional Secretary and Secretary in the Government of India. The empanelment is a necessary milestone that requires central experience, they added.

Another source said that the inability of these officers unable to secure the NOCs is being taken by them as stagnation, which they feel that Punjab cadre like West Bengal getting the reputation of a “graveyard” for the officers.

Power Imbalance

Giving reasons for the adverse administrative state of affairs in Punjab, the officials said that power structure has completely been skewed due to a major imbalance between the formal power structure -- the Chief Minister’s office and the Chief Secretary -- and the actual centres of authority. It is a known fact in the administrative circles in Chandigarh that the Chief Minister’s inability to take decisive administrative calls is the root cause of the malaise, they added.

Punjab’s ruling party’s top functionaries including its convenor Arvind Kejriwal and Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha are learnt to have been calling the shots leading to bottlenecks and a breakdown in timely decision-making. Instead of Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, sources said.  

The Chief Secretary, however, is not that weak, but he remained helpless in helping his fellow officers in their career progression by getting the pending NOCs cleared. Furthermore, several experienced IAS officers have been kept waiting for assignments for months and some are still without posting, reflecting a deeper administrative malaise.

Comparison With West Bengal 

Many of the officers posted in Punjab are now heard comparing the northern state with West Bengal, which is also often criticised for its treatment of the bureaucracy. They argue that while in West Bengal, the CM decides on all crucial administrative matters, in Punjab, the administration is allegedly run largely by a dedicated contingent of political affiliates of AAP, who have moved their base from Delhi to Chandigarh after losing power in the National Capital.

The new set-up has led to the establishment of a de facto parallel power structure in Punjab. Bibhav Kumar, an ex-aide of the then Delhi CM Kejriwal, is learnt to have been dubbed as the “super chief secretary” in the corridors of power.

Sources in the Punjab government claimed that Kumar holds decisive sway over matters relating to senior officers, with many civil servants looking up to him for their fate and career assignments. Similarly, Jasmine Shah, who once served as the vice-chairperson of the Delhi Dialogue and Development Commission (DDC), is learnt to be a key gatekeeper, with cabinet notes reportedly not moving forward without his nod, which amounts to gross violation of the Official Secrets Act, they said.