Gujarat Bureaucracy Overburdened: Major Rejig Anticipated To Fill Top Level Vacancies

Positions in departments such as port and transport, science and technology, expenditure, commissioner of state’s taxes, resident commissioner, sports, youth, and culture will need to be filled.

AK Rakesh, who currently serves as the additional chief secretary for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, as well as the ACS for the Home Department, is set to retire at the end of this month. 

With the retirement of Rakesh, two important departments—Home and Agriculture—will also fall vacant.

At present, Manoj Kumar Das, the Additional Chief Secretary of the Revenue department, is also handling the crucial port and transport department in an additional capacity. 

Ashwini Kumar, the principal secretary of the urban development department, is managing the Sports, Youth, and Culture Department on an additional charge basis.

Similarly, Mona Khandhar, the Principal Secretary of Panchayat, is also overseeing the Science and Technology department on an additional charge basis.

Furthermore, Vinod Rao, the Secretary of Education, has held the same position for nearly six years.

According to a reliable inside source, transfers are expected in the next few days. The same source added that there may not be any field-level changes, such as collectors and municipal commissioners, in this round because many collectors were already reassigned before the Lok Sabha polls, and none of the municipal commissioners have completed two years in their respective civic bodies.

Even after the transfers or reshuffling, several departments will continue to operate on an additional charge basis due to a shortage of senior-level officials in the state cadre.

The state currently does not have any IAS officers from the 1992, 1993, and 1994 batches because the government in the early '90s did not request IAS officers from UPSC.

As a result, there is a shortage of nearly a dozen senior-level officials in the state cadre, which is placing pressure on the government to run crucial departments with additional personnel.

Not only are the departments affected, but even state Public Sector Undertakings (PSU) like GNFC, GSFC, and GACL, all listed companies, are being managed through ad hoc arrangements on additional charge basis.

"A shortage of personnel is evident in the way departments and PSUs are managed through ad hoc arrangements," stated a senior official.